PM Modi’s visit to Moscow: India’s rising trade deficit in focus

Boosting bilateral trade in the backdrop of India’s widening trade deficit is seen to be one of the key issues to be taken up in the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia.

The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to Moscow to participate in the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit.
Ahead of the visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said that the effort will be to correct the trade imbalance by boosting exports from India to Russia in every sector ranging from agriculture, industry, pharmaceuticals, or services.

“Continuous discussions are happening between the two countries regarding the imbalance in imports and exports, and it has always been a significant issue in bilateral trade talks,” Kwatra had said in a recent media briefing.
Bilateral trade between India and Russia has already crossed the $25 billion target that was set for 2025. In FY23, India-Russia bilateral trade touched close to $65 billion, mainly due to oil imports. In fact, Russia was India’s fourth largest trading partner in FY24. While Indian exports to Russia amounted to $ 4.26 billion, registering a 78.3% jump year on year. Indian imports from Russia were jumped by 952% to $ 61.44 billion in FY24 from $ 5.84 billion in FY23, expanding the trade deficit from $3.45 billion to $57.18 billion as per an analysis by GTRI.

Even in the first two months of the current fiscal, India’s imports from Russia have risen by 20.28% year on year to $ 12.39 billion while its exports had grown by 30.65% to $ 0.83 billion. Crude petroleum has been the top import from Russia with $ 10.12 billion of imports in April and May this year, followed by other items such as coal and coke, petroleum products, vegetable oils and fertilizers. Top exports from India to Russia include computer hardware, drug formulations, residual chemicals and aluminum products.