Mrs. Olga Kulikova, Business Ambassador to India, Business Russia Public Organization, said Indian exports to Russia have grown consistently over the years but remain significantly lower in value, pointing to considerable untapped potential. She said greater awareness among Russian businesses about the competitiveness of Indian products compared with markets such as China and Southeast Asia could help bridge the trade gap.
“Events such as this exemplify the critical role played by trade service organisations like World Trade Center Mumbai in connecting businesses and creating new commercial opportunities,” Kulikova said during the interactive session.
The 12-member delegation from the Leningrad Region represented sectors including pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, waste-to-energy and manufacturing.
Mr. Alexey Chernukhin, Director, Korchega, Leningrad Region, Russia, said the region has strong industrial capabilities, modern infrastructure and excellent connectivity through St. Petersburg and its ports.
“Our delegation represents Russian companies from sectors including logistics, pharmaceuticals, specialised industrial equipment and organic fertilizers, and they are keen to identify reliable Indian partners,” Chernukhin said.
He added that there is considerable potential not only for trade, but also for technology cooperation, localization and long-term business partnerships between companies from India and the Leningrad Region.
Welcoming the business delegation, Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center, Mumbai and President, All India Association of Industries (AIAI), said India and Russia share longstanding bilateral and economic ties.
“Underpinned by strong trust and cooperation, this relationship has consistently been moving north despite of global hiccups,” Kalantri said.
However, he pointed to a massive trade imbalance of 55 billion dollars in recent years and said both countries need to find ways to reduce the gap by focusing on joint ventures, technology sharing, innovative trade settlement mechanisms and complementing the capabilities of both countries in specific sectors such as defence production and advanced manufacturing.
“With Russia's defence capabilities and technology, India could be a launchpad to boost defence exports to the rest of the world,” Kalantri said.
Kalantri further said India, with an economy growing at 7.8% quarterly, enjoys cordial relations with nearly every major economy. He said this could be used by Russian companies to invest in India and then export to the rest of the world, contributing to India's target of achieving a 30 trillion dollars economy by 2047.
He said India's sustained focus on enhancing ease of doing business by reducing compliances and deregulations has enabled it to emerge as a quality supplier of pharmaceuticals, electronic goods, textiles and gems and jewellery, which outpaces Chinese products. He said this facet should be explored by Russians to fill the trade deficit gap.
Presenting the vote of thanks, Capt. Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai, said India and Russia share a longstanding relationship and that the next step should be to translate this goodwill into greater business collaboration.
“We see opportunities in specialised machinery, agriculture, organic fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, logistics and several other sectors represented. World Trade Center, Mumbai remains committed to help this objective,” Batra said.
The interaction highlighted opportunities for Indian and Russian companies to deepen commercial ties through trade, technology cooperation, investment, localization and long-term business partnerships, with the Leningrad Region delegation seeking reliable Indian partners across multiple sectors.
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