Russian firms taking renewed interest in India

Russian companies are showing renewed interest in doing business with India following the visit of President Vladimir Putin to the country in December last year, a Russian minister said on Wednesday.

Russia's Deputy Minister of Economic Development Aleksander Tsybulskiy stressed this in his speech at a business roundtable titled "Russia-India: Mutual Investment Opportunities" during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The Conefederation of Indian Industry (CII) has organised a CEOs' delegation to SPIEF, chamber president Sumit Mazumder leading the Indian businesses.

"Indian companies could look at Russia as a production base and Russian companies in turn could take advantage of India's R&D prowess," Mazumder said at the roundtable.

Leading Indian corporates such as L&T, Exim Bank, Sun Group and Essar as well as Russian corporates Glonass, Sistema and United Aircraft Corporation highlighted their experience of working in each other's countries.

Russian officials are in talks with their Indian counterparts to help the country set up high-speed railways projects, a top railway official said here.

Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, said they were keen to tie up with Indian Railways for the planned high-speed rail links, as the country has expertise in this area.

Talking to journalists on the sidelines of the forum, Yakunin said that Russia and India had a relationship in technological matters, both defence and civilian, and this is likely to continue in the future.

Yakunin said earlier he himself held discussion at top level with Indian politicians and officials on improving the signalling and safety infrastructure in India, so that the accidents happening on the Indian Railways network could be avoided.

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is leading the Indian delegation to the SPIEF 2015, being held between June 18-20.