Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Delhi today for an all encompassing 23rd annual India-Russia bilateral summit, India commerce minister Piyush Goyal took the initiative to address and highlight the widely reported trade gap between the economic powerhouses.
Speaking at the India-Russia Business Forum in Delhi earlier today, Piyush Goyal acknowledged that the bilateral trade with Russia is heavily skewed in Russia’s favor and emphasized the need for a rebalancing and diversification of the trade basket.
“Bilateral trade between the two countries is reaching $70 billion, but we cannot rest, we need to grow, we need to balance that. India-Russia partnership is time-tested and has “stood as a testament to decades of unwavering solidarity, enduring the many uncertainties of a changing world,” Goyal said.
Trade gap in numbers
As per reports, the current trade volume between both countries has reached a record high of approximately $68.7 billion in FY 2024-25, but imports from Russia account for the vast majority of this figure.
While total trade reached a record high, Indian exports have not kept pace, leading to a large trade deficit that necessitates rebalancing and diversification of the trade basket.
India-Russia Trade Basket: Complete Picture
As per Goyal, India and Russia had set a target of $30 billion by 2025 a decade ago, a figure that has already been surpassed at nearly twice that level. Engineering goods remain India’s top export to Russia at $1.3 billion in FY25, followed by electronic goods worth $862.5 million and drugs and pharmaceuticals at $577.2 million. Other major shipments include organic and inorganic chemicals, marine products, and ready-made garments.
Some of India’s top imports from Russia in FY25 include crude oil at nearly $57 billion, animal and vegetable fats and oils at $2.4 billion, fertilisers at $1.8 billion, and pearls, precious, and semi-precious stones at $433.93 million.
Talking about future opportunities for trade expansion which will be one of the key agendas at the ongoing summit, Goyal highlighted vast untapped opportunities for Indian exporters in sectors such as automobiles, electronics, heavy machinery, textiles and food products, as both sides work to reduce trade barriers and expand business opportunities.
Russia’s response to Goyal
Addressing the forum on Thursday, Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russia’s Presidential Executive Office, said that India’s share in Russia’s imports is less than 2 per cent and it needs to be increased for a more balanced trade between the two countries.
Oreshkin said that the six major areas in which India can increase exports to Russia include agriculture, pharma, telecom equipment, industrial components, and human resources.
The two nations had previously pledged to increase bilateral trade to over $100 billion by 2030 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Moscow visit in 2024. Merchandise trade between the two nations touched an all time figure in FY 2025 but Indian exports to Russia remained under $5 billion, while imports were close to $64 billion due to large oil imports.
Following the geopolitical trade disruption initiated by Trump’s tariffs, India has actively maintained a trade strategy focused on diversification and reducing dependence on other nations for imports. The Ministry of External Affairs is presently also engaged in talks for a free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
