Russia’s solution for its labour shortage? 1 million workers from India

Russia plans to accept up to 1 million workers by the end of this year to address labour shortages in its highly industrialised regions, a Russian business leader said. Andrey Besedin, head of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the RosBusinessConsulting news agency that about 1 million specialists from India would come to Russia, including the Sverdlovsk region. 

A new Consulate General will open in Yekaterinburg to handle related matters.

Besedin said the arrival of Indian workers would help fill the shortage of skilled labour in the Sverdlovsk region. This region, with Yekaterinburg as its capital, is located in the Ural mountains and is known for its heavy industry and military-industrial complex, including companies like Uralmash and Ural Wagon Zavod, which produces the T-90 series tanks.

He noted that industrial enterprises need to increase production but face a shortage of skilled workers. Some workers are deployed in the military operation in Ukraine, and younger people are not joining factories.

Russia is also considering inviting workers from Sri Lanka and North Korea, though this remains a complex issue.

Migrant workers from India started arriving at enterprises in Russian regions in 2024. They were especially invited by the Kaliningrad fish processing complex "Za Rodinu" due to labour shortages. 

The Russian Ministry of Labour predicts a workforce shortage of 3.1 million people by 2030. It has proposed increasing the quota for inviting qualified foreign workers by 1.5 times to 0.23 million in 2025. According to the ministry, Russian industrial enterprises attracted 47,000 qualified migrants from non-CIS countries in 2024. The Ministry of Economic Development has also called for expanding the range of countries from which workers are attracted.

However, Russian authorities have tightened migration laws to reduce the influx of migrants from former Soviet republics following a terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow in March last year.