Russian companies showing interest in doing business with India

The Dollar Business Bureau Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Aleksander Tsybulskiy said that Russian companies are showing renewed interest in doing business with India post President Vladmir Putin’s visit to the country in December 2014. Tsybulskiy was speaking at the Business Roundtable, “Russia-India: Mutual Investment Opportunities”, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) being organized in St. Petersburg, Russia. Industry body CII organized a CEO delegation representing leading Indian businesses at SPIEF and at the India Russia Business Roundtable. Sumit Mazumdar, President, CII in his address highlighted the need for Russian companies to participate in sectors such as nuclear energy, renewable energy, oil and gas and defence manufacturing in India. In sectors such as pharmaceuticals, he suggested that Indian companies could look at Russia as a production base while Russian companies could benefit from India’s R&D strengths. Mazumdar also emphasized the need to fast track the India – Russia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement to boost bilateral economic cooperation. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII also highlighted the opportunities presented by the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the Government of India. According to Banerjee, the two countries could seek cooperation in sectors such as engineering goods, ICT, chemicals, agri-products and transport equipment among others. Shedding light on the many avenues of cooperation between the two countries, Ambassador P S Raghavan, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, said that the issue of ‘business visa’ needs to be addressed for bilateral trade and business cooperation to further strengthen. Leading Indian corporates such as L&T, Exim Bank, Sun Group and Essar Group as well as Russian corporates such as Glonass, Sistema and United Aircraft Corporation spoke about their experience of working in each other’s countries. SPIEF gathers the leading decision-makers of the emerging economic powers to identify and deliberate the key challenges facing Russia, emerging markets, and the world at large, while engaging communities to find common purpose and establish frameworks to forge solutions which will drive the growth and stability agenda. The Forum is expected to bring together over 1,600 companies, including over 840 overseas and 732 Russian companies at the forum.  

June 19, 2015 | 06:28 pm IST.