Indian businesses to boost investment in Russia – official

Indian entrepreneurs are working on launching new business projects in Moscow Region, its local governmental deputy chairman has revealed.

Yekaterina Zinovyeva told news agency TASS on Friday that more than ten Indian companies are successfully operating in the industrialized Moscow Region, which is also home to the capital, after they localized their businesses in the area.

“The total volume of their investments is 11 billion rubles ($135 million) and the number of jobs they have created reaches a thousand,” Zinovyeva highlighted. “New projects are also in the works, which will bring another almost eight billion rubles ($98 million) in investment to Moscow Region. Their implementation will significantly increase the presence of Indian business in our region,” she added.

According to Zinovyeva, Moscow Region can also expect a substantial increase in Indian investments following a promotional road show in New Delhi and Mumbai later this month.

“During the preliminary meeting, representatives of the Indian pharmaceutical industry showed high interest in our region and the opportunities that it is ready to provide. This includes infrastructure, and a vast consumer market, as well as logistics,” the official noted.

Trade and economic partnership between Russia and India have been growing in the wake of Western sanctions on Moscow. In 2022, Russia became one of India’s top five trading partners for the first time. Bilateral trade hit a record $39.8 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year, official statistics show.

According to Aleksey Valkov, the director of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Indian business has good opportunities to fill the void left by Western companies. In a recent interview with RT, Valkov highlighted that the key industries seeing rapid development in Russia-India co-operation are hydrocarbons, nuclear power, pharmaceuticals, chemical fertilizers and high-tech products. There are other important areas of potential cooperation, according to Valkov, such as transport infrastructure, agriculture and agro-processing, support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the digital transformation and cutting-edge technologies, as well as manufacturing and trading.

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