Russia woos Indian businesses

Private companies in India and other Commonwealth of Independent States countries should start interacting more actively to expand exchange beyond government interactions, Vyachelslav Ivanovich Trudnikov, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in India, said in Kolkata on Monday.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Bilateral trade with Russian Federation and CIS countries' jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, eastern region (FIEO-ER) and India-CIS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Trudnikov pointed lack of information about the potential areas of trade and commerce between the two countries as the greatest constraint.

He welcomed private players to participate in the Shakalin-I oilfield project where ONGC is a participant.

Andrey N Chernyshev, trade representative of RFI, said there existed immense potential of major Indian information technology for joint activities in Russia owing to the research and development facilities and tax concessions available in Russia.

Russia contributes to more than 90 per cent of the overall trade between India and CIS countries. IT companies in India and Russia could work together in establishing IT parks and developing hardware and software product for other countries.

In eastern India, there existed considerable potential of bilateral cooperation in various field ranging from inland water transport to manufacturing of heavy all-terrain Ural trucks, noted N M Fedyukovich, consul general of the Russian Federation in Kolkata.

Speaking of the multi modal route through of the North-South corridor, Rajeev Kumar, under secretary, ministry of commerce and industry of the government of India, said trucks using the new route could deliver goods 25-30 days from India to Moscow against 40-45 days using the traditional route.

"International NS corridor route has been effective in reduction delivery cost by 25-30 per cent," said Kumar.

India would support trade and commerce with CIS countries and there will be no dearth of funds for programme like market development assistance programme and market access initiative scheme, added Kumar.

Indian engineering companies have made noticeable progress in capturing Russian market, he noted.

Lack of financial infrastructure and of transit facilities were pushing down trade volumes between India and CIS countries, delegates said.