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Russian group may invest $1 bn in India

A Russian conglomerate with interests in telecommunications, insurance and electronics could invest up to $1.0 billion in joint ventures with Indian firms, Russia's industry minister said on Friday.

Ilya Klebanov told a news conference that officials of the privately-owned Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation were in talks with several Indian companies.

"We're talking about Russian investments to the tune of $1.0 billion," Klebanov said after meeting Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, but he did not specify a time frame for the proposed investment.

"Representatives of the Sistema Corporation are discussing with their Indian counterparts the idea of setting up joint ventures here in India and Russia."

Klebanov, who is on a two-day visit to New Delhi ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India in December, said the proposed investment would be in electronics, chips, mobile and fixed-line telecommunications.

India's fast-growing telecoms sector has large investments from global players such as Singapore Telecommunications and Hong Kong's giant conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, attracted to the country's low telephone density.

Sistema has controlling interests in the Moscow City Telephone Network and a large stake in top mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems. The nine-year-old company also has a strong presence in construction, oil and media.

Both ministers said they discussed steps to boost bilateral trade between the cold war allies from its current level of about $1.4 billion annually.

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