Russia ready to manufacture in India; Rosneft invested $20 billion: Govt quotes Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is willing to set up manufacturing operations in India as investments in the country are profitable.

He also said that Russian oil major Rosneft invested $20 billion in the country recently, according to a statement issued by the Commerce & Industry Ministry.Putin’s comments, made at the VTB Russia Calling Investment Forum in Moscow, are significant as increased Russian investments in Indian manufacturing could be important for the viability of the rupee-rouble payment mechanism pushed by both countries.

“Prime Minister Modi has a similar programme (akin to Russia’s import substitution programme) called Make in India. We are also ready to set up our manufacturing operations in India. The Indian government, under the Prime Minister’s leadership, has been creating stable conditions, driven by a policy of putting India first. We believe that investing in India is profitable,” Putin said at the VTB Russia Calling Investment Forum in Moscow. The statement quoting Putin was issued by the Commerce & Industry Ministry on Thursday.

India and Russia put in place a rupee payment system to circumvent the Western countries’ banking and economic sanctions against Moscow following its attack on Ukraine in February 2022. Russian banks, including Gazprom and Rosbank, opened their rupee vostro accounts with authorised dealer banks in India, such as UCO, HDFC and ICICI, for enabling rupee trade between the two countries.

With Russia now by far the largest crude supplier to India due to its steep discounts, Moscow is the fourth largest trade partner of India with bilateral trade at $65.42 billion in 2023-24.

Since Russia enjoys a huge trade surplus, valued at $56.9 billion in FY24, New Delhi believes some of it can be gainfully utilised as investment in manufacturing activities in the country. India also allows Russia to invest in government securities and bonds.

At the meet, the Russian President further said the investment platform Russia was developing with the BRICS plus bloc had the potential to benefit all partner countries and provide financial resources to the Global South and East, the statement added. “I urge my BRICS colleagues to evaluate the current situation in key areas of cooperation, and we will certainly bring this to the attention of our Brazilian counterparts, who will be leading BRICS next year,” Putin said.