Page 2 - Trade Route

Long wait for a shorter trade route to Russia ends

After being dubbed as India's biggest bet in Central Asia and Russia, a new trade corridor aimed at improving India's reach in the region is struggling to find takers.The ambitious International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) aims to slash by half the time taken by trade shipments to reach Russia and nations part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as well as massively reduce logistics costs. Come April 13th and India will be sending a series of containerized exports to Russia to mark the 70th year of diplomatic and trade ties between the two countries through the new route.However, even more than six months after all components of the planned trade route has been put into place and almost three years after the first successful dry run was completed, the route is struggling to find takers among traders."The average time taken is expected to be brought down from the current 35-40 days to 20-22 days while logistics costs will go down by 44 per cent but the lack of ...