Russian-Indian Trade to Grow Despite Western Sanctions

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Trade and investment between Russia and India will keep growing despite the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, the director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry told Sputnik on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

"Despite the sanctions, India has stood committed towards increasing our bilateral collaboration in many areas so we are looking at growth in terms of trade and investment," Chandrajit Banerjee said.

He added that the dialogue on the level of business structures between the two nations has been actively developing since the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Delhi last year.

“We have identified certain sectors which we are focusing on and we see a lot of Russian participation in the Indian economy," Banerjee said.

During the Russian leader's visit to India in December 2014, the sides signed several defense, trade and energy contracts, including a 10-year deal to deliver an annual 10 million tons of oil to India.

According to data of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, the turnover of goods between Russia and India in 2013 amounted to $10.1 billion, including Russian exports valuing a total $7 billion and $3.1-billion imports.

In 2014, the number dropped to $9.5 billion largely due to the Russian export’s decrease.