Trade Relations Between India and Russia Strengthens Amidst Prolonged Russia Ukraine War

The bilateral trade relationship between Russia and India is full of ups and downs. In the past few years, Russia has become one of the major trade partners of India with a significant amount of contribution in total imports and exports.

Trade Relations Between India and Russia Strengthens Amidst Prolonged Russia Ukraine War

HOW ARE THE BILATERAL TRADE RELATIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND RUSSIA?

Russia is one of the biggest importers and exporters of goods and services across the globe. As per the 2021 Import Export Data statistics of Russia, the total imports, and exports to and from Russia were USD 293.50 billion and USD 492.31 billion respectively.

On the other hand, India is also one of the emerging nations in the world and is experiencing rapid development and growth. The Export Import Data also shared the statistics of India with regard to total imports and exports made in the year 2021 which were USD 570.4 billion and USD 394.81 billion respectively.

Now let’s focus that how are the trade relations between them and how much contribution is made by this bilateral trade in the Global Trade Data statistics as a whole. The bilateral trade relationship between Russia and India is full of ups and downs. In the past few years, Russia has become one of the major trade partners of India with a significant amount of contribution in total imports and exports. In the year 2017, India was the 2nd largest destination where Russia exported its defense products and close to 68% of total Indian Military equipment was imported from Russia.

Apart from defense items, many more items like electrical machines, vehicles, chemicals, fertilizers, etc. are traded to and from both nations in huge numbers. This is strengthening the trade ties between both nations due to which Russia has become India’s 7th largest trade partner in the ongoing year 2023.

The table below depicts the bilateral trade trends between Russia and India for the past 5 years which will help you to understand how this two-way trade is growing each year.

BILATERAL TRADE TRENDS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND INDIA

YEAR

INDIA EXPORTS RUSSIA

RUSSIA EXPORTS INDIA

REMARKS

2017

USD 2.90 billion

USD 6.45 billion

Trade surplus (Russia)

2018

USD 3.22 billion

USD 7.75 billion

Trade surplus (Russia)

2019

USD 3.92 billion

USD 7.30 billion

Trade surplus (Russia)

2020

USD 3.45 billion

USD 5.79 billion

Trade surplus (Russia)

2021

USD 4.42 billion

USD 9.12 billion

Trade surplus (Russia)

Based on this table, we can derive the conclusion that as per Russia Trade Data for all these years, Russia has successfully maintained a trade surplus, but India has always been in a trade deficit as the demand for energy and crude oil is growing in India every year due to which it keeps on importing crude oil from Russia in huge quantity.

----------

MAJOR ITEMS IMPORTED BY INDIA FROM RUSSIA – 2021

In this section, we are going to learn more about the top items that India imported from Russia in the year 2021. So, based on the list derived from the Russia Export Data 2021, the top 05 items exported to India were:

  • Mineral fuels like crude oil (USD 2.30 billion)
  • Natural and precious pearls (USD 1.37 billion)
  • Electrical machines (USD 696.06 million)
  • Fertilizers (USD 440.69 million)
  • Inorganic chemicals (USD 235.54 million)

----------

MAJOR ITEMS EXPORTED BY INDIA TO RUSSIA - 2021

Just like Russia exported goods to India, it also imported some crucial products from India too. So, based on Russia Import Data for the year 2021, the major items imported by Russia from India were:

  • Electrical machines and appliances (USD 644.38 million)
  • Pharmaceutical products (USD 585.99 million)
  • Organic chemicals (USD 424.82 million)
  • Iron and steel (USD 192.91 million)
  • Light automotives (USD 178.32 million)

----------

HOW RUSSIA MANAGED TO BECOME THE 7TH BIGGEST TRADE PARTNER OF INDIA?

The trade relations between India and Russia have always been very cordial and strong. Since the inception of the first diplomatic relations between these two, trade statistics have always been on the positive side. After the mutual agreement that was signed between Russia and India in the year 2000, the trade relations have become even stronger.

Despite multiple dangers that came across in the year 2022, both nations have managed to maintain their trade relations very well. Based on certain official reports, the bilateral trade between Russia and India crossed a mark of USD 18 billion in the duration of just 6 months (April 2022 – August 2022).

The growth in bilateral trade was due to the rise of imports of crude oil and other mineral fuels that were done by India to satisfy the huge demand for crude oil. just because of this unusual import growth, Russia climbed up and became the 7th biggest trade partner of India.

Refer to the table below that shows India’s mineral fuels and oils imports from Russia in the past 5 years.

INDIAN MINERAL FUELS AND OILS IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA (2017-2021)

YEAR

IMPORTS

2017

USD 1.51 billion

2018

USD 1.85 billion

2019

USD 2.19 billion

2020

USD 1.05 billion

2021

USD 2.30 billion

----------

HOW ARE INDIA AND RUSSIA PLANNING TO EXPAND THEIR BILATERAL TRADE?

To further take the trade to the next level, both countries are working on various alternatives that can give a boost to the bilateral trade between them. After a long discussion, India and Russia have decided to expand their bilateral trade by using the new water route, i.e., the Northern Sea Shipping route.

The Northern Sea Shipping Route had been chosen by both nations as they find that this route is one of the safest routes to transport goods from one country to another. Also, this route is the shortest route that connects East Asia and Europe, hence both nations could save those high shipping and transportation costs.

India has already made its 2nd spot in the list of top crude oil buyers from Russia after China in the year 2022. According to Russia Export data for the year 2022, India imported total goods worth USD 46,342 million from Russia. 

----------

CONCLUSION

In the end, we would just want to emphasize this point that the trade between Russia and India is growing every year by a significant amount. This is happening because of a range of factors that are backing this bilateral trade. Some of those factors are Growth in the demand for energy resources in India, increased demand for Russian defense systems, and space research.

Both nations are promoting this bilateral trade from both ends and it seems that the trade relations between these countries will grow in the years to come. So, if you are facing any doubt or have any query in your mind, then feel free to contact TradeImeX Info Solution Pvt. Ltd. today and get answers to all your questions. We will help you to build a roadmap for yourself if you are interested to trade in Russia with the help of Russia Trade Data and other reliable reports.

For free samples and demos, you can reach us anytime.

--- END ---

 

What's Your Reaction?

like