On December 19, Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Padalko took part in the 14th Indian-Russian Business Dialogue, held at the press center of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency. The meeting was organized by the Indian Business Alliance (IBA) with the support of the Business Council for Cooperation with India (BCCI) and the Roscongress Foundation. A regular meeting of the DSSI was also held on the sidelines of the Forum.
The participants stated that bilateral trade and economic cooperation is developing increasingly. In particular, according to Indian statistics, mutual trade turnover for 10 months of this year reached $54.7 billion. According to this indicator, Russia is among the four main partners of India. Russian business holds leading positions in the country in the supply of hydrocarbon raw materials (a third of Indian imports), mineral fertilizers, agricultural products and the diamond complex. Exports of high-tech products to India are growing steadily. All this creates favorable conditions for expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation. It is expected that if this pace of cooperation is maintained, the goal of achieving a trade turnover of $100 billion will be achieved before 2030.
At the same time, the speakers drew attention to the need to make the process of economic rapprochement with India more sustainable, with the prospect of eliminating imbalances in mutual trade. In this context, the wish was expressed that India would be able to take advantage of its ability to replace imported goods on the Russian market that were previously supplied by Western companies.
Forum participants, in particular, pointed to economic niches in demand in Russia in the automotive industry (auto parts, component base), shipbuilding, electronics, and retail trade. Opportunities for increasing trade in those industries where Indian businessmen traditionally have a strong position (pharmaceuticals, information technology) were also noted.
Requests were expressed for the need to maintain interbank dialogue, expand mutual access to capital markets, improve mutual settlement mechanisms, implement the transition to alternative SWIFT financial information exchange systems, as well as synchronize national payment instruments.
In addition, there is general agreement that there is huge untapped potential in the development of tourism businesses and tourism infrastructure. In connection with the prospects of signing an Intergovernmental Agreement with India on visa-free group tourist trips, expectations were voiced for Indian developers and large hotel chains to enter the Russian market.
The importance of creating, on a systematic basis, favorable conditions for doing business in India, including the liberalization of the customs regime within the framework of the “green corridor” project, as well as the expansion of transport and logistics routes, such as the international transport corridor “North-South”, the sea corridor “China-South”, was emphasized. Vladivostok", Northern Sea Route.
Great hopes in this regard were associated with the prospect of signing a Free Trade Agreement between India and the EAEU.
In the context of Russia's upcoming chairmanship of BRICS, the need to increase the status of this organization within the international monetary and financial system was emphasized, and the importance of developing interbank cooperation with a focus on national currencies was emphasized.
In addition, the speakers focused on some aspects that make doing business in India more difficult. In particular, they spoke about the Indian practice of applying non-market restrictions (tariffs) in relation to Russian exporters, as well as the problems of accumulating illiquid proceeds in the form of rupees. At the same time, opinions were expressed that “illiquid” rupees in the long term represent a huge investment capital that can be directed into the rapidly developing high-tech sector of India (telecommunications equipment, software, engineering complex, etc.), which is in demand in Russia.
In general, over the past year, DSSI organized dozens of events in this area. These are forums, business missions, industry trips and events within the framework of SPIEF and EEF. In this context, the business mission (March 2023) conducted by DSSI in Delhi jointly with REC, Vnesheconombank and Roscongress was repeatedly mentioned. Then more than 600 representatives of the business circles of India and Russia took part in the business mission from both sides.
The business forum was attended by representatives of almost all key structures involved in foreign economic activity (Minek, Federal Customs Service, Federal Tax Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, REC, MEC), representatives of a number of regional administrations, as well as a large pool of business associations and entrepreneurs with interests in the Indian direction (BEAC, RSPP, OPORA Rossii, etc.). On the Indian side there were: the Indian Embassy, IBA and representatives of large businesses.
Department of External Relations