The opening of a VTB bank branch in India was among the highlights of the second Russian-Indian Trade and Investment Forum, attended by more 400 business and community representatives in Delhi. Russia's second largest bank is the country's first to open i
Bilateral trade between the two nations jumped 34% over the last year. Increasingly it's featuring high value added goods including mechanical engineering, chemicals, and aircraft manufacturing but players on both sides say there is more significant growth ahead. At a corporate level the forum has featured a number of announcements. VTB will become the first Russian bank to set up in India, supporting the growing trade relationship. “Our activity in India is focused on – serves Russian companies working in India , India companies who wants to play in Russia and be in the centre of economic. We have a number of clients starting from Rosoboronexport and Russian companies who build the energy station and other companies in innovative economy and hi tech,” Andrey Kostin, VTB CEO, said. The largest current Russian investor in India is telecommunication corporation Systema. It's already invested $US one billion in buying Indian operator Shyam Telelink. However the company is ready to spend more to become a pan-Indian mobile operator. With a further strengthening across a range of sectors, ties between the two economies are moving to a new level.