External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow, Russia
| Photo Credit:
@DrSJaishankar/X via PTI Photo
With India’s trade deficit with Russia widening to over $50 billion in 2025-26 from just $6.6 billion five years earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called for urgent steps to rebalance the rapidly expanding bilateral trade, including greater market access, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, stronger payment mechanisms and deeper business-to-business engagement. “Addressing this imbalance is today one of our foremost priorities,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the 27th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) in Moscow on Monday.Bilateral goods trade has more than quadrupled during the period to nearly $60 billion in FY26. This growth, however, has been highly skewed, with India’s imports from Russia at $55.3 billion, dominated by oil, while its exports were just $4.5 billion.“Progress on market access, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, strengthening payment mechanisms, and stronger business-to-business engagement will be critical for addressing this imbalance and achieving our shared objective of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030,” the Minister said.Russia’s emphasis on taking forward bilateral cooperation in many domains from energy, nuclear, metallurgy, space, railways, fertilisers to mobility of skills, to connectivity, and to payment mechanisms, was reciprocated by Jaishankar. Jaishankar wrapped up his two-day visit to Moscow on Monday where he held a series of high-level meetings, including with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The discussions covered the broader strategic partnership as well as economic and trade ties between the two countries.Jaishankar’s visit to Russia took place amid threats from the US on possible economic sanctions for continuing to trade in crude oil with Moscow.“The complicated international scenario will constantly throw up fresh ideas because we are all focused on derisking and diversifying. Economic demands and technology requirements will add to this mix. Our fundamental complementarity still remains under-explored. But even the last few years have seen progress in realising this potential and we must take that forward,” the Minister said, stressing the need to constantly explore new opportunities and possibilities for strengthening bilateral ties.He also said India and Russia could take stock of negotiations on the proposed India-Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) Free Trade Agreement as part of efforts to expand market access.Jaishankar proposed a greater focus on implementation and outcomes through the IRIGC-TEC mechanism, asking its working groups and sub-groups to prioritise specific deliverables before the next session.He called for closer engagement with businesses, saying governments could create enabling frameworks but businesses were responsible for trade, investment, innovation and job creation. Regular interaction with industry and business associations, he said, could help identify practical bottlenecks and make the mechanism more commercially relevant.Published on August 25, 2026
