Russia keen to boost trade

In the Soviet Union era, eastern India contributed to around 40 per cent of the net imports by Russia from India, said Vladimir V Lazarev, consul general of Russian Federation in Kolkata, in justification. The consulate here had lined up proposals worth $4 billion of Indian companies wanting to buy Russian mining equipments, he claimed.

 

However, the traditional items of export from the region like tea had dipped considerably as Chinese and Kenyan tea were cheaper options. The demand for jute had also declined, Lazarev admitted. Indo-Russian joint ventures in technology, mining and energy offered good prospects, he claimed.

A Rs 1000 crore titanium oxide manufacturing plant was being set up near Gopalpur in Orissa by a company from St Petersburg and Kolkata-based Saraf Agencies.

It would be a special economic zone (SEZ) and use the modernized Gopalpur port, Lazarev claimed. Russian metals and heavy engineering corporates like Magnitogrosk, RUSAL, Cheboksar tractor factory, Tekhnokhim Holding, and Transaero air carrier were keen on setting up projects in eastern part of the country, he claimed.

The potential areas for mutual cooperation identified with India included technology intensive products primarily IT hardware, supply of hydrocarbons and fuel including natural gas, coking coal, oil, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and diamonds processing and marketing.

Currently, nearly 40 per cent of Indian exports to Russia were agricultural products and commodities like tea, coffee,soya meal, spices, tobacco,leather and plastic goods and textiles. The share of machinery, equipment and vehicles declined to 5-10 per cent of net Russian exports to India as against 60 per cent goods falling under commodities category including items like fertlisers and newsprint.

There were no immediate plans to re-open the trade office in Kolkata, closed for 10 years. Lazarev said a Kolkata-Moscow direct flight had attracted some Russian companies like Trans Air about a year back but it appeared it was still not viable to start a direct flight service.

The Aeroflot service was stopped in 2001. Russia-India bilateral trade stood at $5 billion for the last fiscal, a 30 per cent year-on-year increase.