India and Russia have announced their intention to double the volume of mutual trade, reaching $100 billion over the next five years. This ambitious plan includes reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as expanding cooperation within joint projects. This was stated by India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during an official visit to the Russian Federation.
This is reported by Business • Media
Trade tensions with the US push India to cooperate with Russia
The deepening trade ties between New Delhi and Moscow are partly driven by the deterioration of India’s relations with the US. Washington has already imposed a 25% tariff on Indian goods and is preparing to raise it to 50% starting August 27. As a result, Russia has become India’s fourth largest trading partner, while India is the second largest for Russia.
Shadow scheme for oil imports and declining trade between Russia and China
Indian oil refinery Nayara, which is supported by Russia and is under EU sanctions, has started using a so-called “shadow fleet” for oil imports—ships that conceal the origin of the cargo. In August, Nayara received at least seven shipments of Russian oil, some of which arrived on sanctioned tankers. The total volume of imported crude amounted to about 700,000 barrels of Urals grade.
“In contrast, trade between Russia and China has ‘cracked’. According to China, in the first seven months of the year, bilateral trade fell to $125.8 billion (-8% year-on-year) after nearly doubling in the previous three years.”
China has significantly reduced purchases of key raw material goods from Russia: oil imports decreased by 11% (to 49.11 million tons), petroleum products by 28% (to 5.51 million tons), and liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 13% (to 3.22 million tons). Exports of Chinese goods to the Russian Federation also fell by 9%, with car supplies decreasing by 61%. Experts link this trend to the impact of sanctions and the saturation of the Russian market with Chinese products.