Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an annual summit on Friday, agreed to expand and diversify trade beyond oil and defence as the United States presses India to revise its decades-old partnership with Russia.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and Russia, established during Putin’s first state visit to India in October 2000.
The 23rd Russia-India Summit comes at a pivotal moment, as the US pushes for a Ukraine peace deal while seeking global cooperation. Putin, on his first visit to close partner India since the Ukraine war, was given a red-carpet welcome with an honour guard and a 21-gun salute.
From trade to energy and technology: Key outcomes of Putin’s India visit
1. India-Russia Economic Cooperation Till 2030: Putin and Modi announced that India and Russia have finalized an economic cooperation programme until 2030, aimed at diversifying mutual businesses and boosting annual trade. India’s share of Russian imports currently stands at less than 2%, and both nations aim to increase trade to $100 billion by the end of the decade.
2. Boosting Exports to Russia: Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $68.7 billion in 2024-25, nearly six times higher than pre-pandemic levels. However, Indian exports accounted for only $4.88 billion, highlighting a deep trade deficit. India is looking to bridge this gap by promoting exports, even as the broadening of ties attracts criticism from the US and the EU.
3. Financial and Payment Systems Cooperation: India and Russia have agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral settlements using national currencies to ensure uninterrupted trade.
They also plan to continue consultations on enabling interoperability of national payment systems, financial messaging platforms, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) platforms.
4. Major Investment in Fertilizers: RCF, IPL, and NFL signed an MoU with Russia’s Uralchem to set up a greenfield urea plant with an estimated investment of $1.2 billion, PTI reported, citing sources.
The plant, with an annual capacity of 2 million tonnes, is expected to be operational by mid-2028. As a net importer of urea, India will benefit from a secured supply from this proposed facility.
5. Nuclear Energy Collaboration: The two nations discussed the possibility of building a second nuclear power plant with Russian-designed reactors, with India committing to allocate a site. Talks on a second site for six 1.2-gigawatt reactors have been ongoing since 2016 but were previously stalled due to legal constraints.
6. Energy & Oil Supplies: Putin assured India of “uninterrupted shipments” of fuel, even as New Delhi faces US pressure to curb purchases of Russian oil. India became a major buyer of Russian crude after the Ukraine war, with Russia supplying 36% of India’s total crude imports in 2024 (around 1.8 million barrels per day).
7. Defence Ties: India and Russia are increasingly moving from direct arms purchases to joint development and production of military equipment, including missiles and guns.
While India remains a top global arms importer, Russia’s share of India’s arms imports has declined from 76% in 2009-13 to 36% in 2019-23, as New Delhi diversifies suppliers and strengthens domestic production.
8. Critical Minerals and Advanced Manufacturing: Recognising the strategic importance of critical minerals, India and Russia expressed interest in deepening cooperation in exploration, processing, and recycling technologies of critical minerals and rare earths.
9. Strengthening Trade Corridors: The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in building stable and efficient transport corridors, with the focus on expanding logistics links for improving connectivity and enhancing infrastructure capacity to support the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the Chennai–Vladivostok (Eastern Maritime) Corridor, and the Northern Sea Route.
10. New Trade Opportunities: The two sides confirmed their readiness to intensify trade and investment cooperation in Russia’s Far East and Arctic zones. The 2024–2029 India-Russia Cooperation Program provides a framework for collaboration in sectors such as agriculture, energy, mining, diamonds, pharmaceuticals, and maritime transport.
List of Agreements
— Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Russian Federation on Temporary Labour Activity of Citizens of one State in the Territory of the other State
— Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation in Combating Irregular Migration
— Agreement between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on cooperation in the field of healthcare, medical education and science
— Agreement between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Republic of India and the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Russian Federation) in the field of food safety
— Bilateral Agreement between Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications of the Republic of India between and JSC Russian Post
— Agreement regarding cooperation between University of Mumbai, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Joint-Stock Company Management Company of Russian Direct Investment Fund
