India and Russia targeting $50 bn in investments – Indian trade minister

The India-Russia priority investment tracking mechanism is actively monitoring 40 projects across advanced manufacturing, energy, mining, railways, and emerging technology as the two countries pursue a $50 billion investment target, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Russia-India trade and investment fair, INNOPROM. India, being held in New Delhi, Goyal said the two countries are fast-tracking a new bilateral investment treaty to give investors the legal certainty they need for making investment decisions.

He said local currency settlement mechanisms are being strengthened to speed up trade transactions.

Addressing the session, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov said a major effort is being made to sell Russian civilian planes to India and organize their local production, especially the SJ-100 regional jet. This includes creating maintenance facilities and training Indian specialists.

Russian plane maker UAC on Thursday reached agreements with three Indian domestic airlines to sell up to 105 Il-114-300 regional jets. Separate plans are being firmed up for their local production.

Alikhanov also said special attention is being paid to developing technical cooperation, with railways a priority. He said an initiative for the joint production of Vande Bharat trains is being implemented, including production modernizing, establishing an engineering center, and training Indian specialists. The models are indigenously developed, semi-high-speed train sets operated by Indian Railways.

Goyal asked Alikhanov to help open the door wider for Indian investment in pharma, IT, AI, services, engineering, and railways to achieve the bilateral $50 billion investment target.

The Indian minister also said New Delhi and Moscow are “investing in the physical backbone of this relationship,” citing the International North-South Transport Corridor and the Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor. The latter has seen a jump in traffic recently from Indian imports of coal and oil from Russia.

The trade fair will end on Friday, when the BRICS summit gets underway in New Delhi. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be in the Indian capital to attend the summit, is expected to visit the fair along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.