Page 44 - Russia OUTLOOK 2023

India plans to double trade with Russia, using the rupee for settlements,
The Indian Express reported on November 13 citing a protocol of a high-level
meeting that took place in September. Earlier in the week, the Indian
government permitted use of the rupee in international transactions. According
to the protocol, the Trade Ministry said it was ready to support the initiative of a
100% increase of the trade amount with Russia soon, and the rupee use in the
payments was seen as an additional stimulus.

The Russian authorities, having wasted RUB3 trillion on import substitution
programmes, continue to look for alternative sources of imports of high-tech
parts, without which the industry is worthless. Despite the government’s best
efforts at import substitution, in some segments imports remain at 100%, or
slightly less by the beginning of the war in 2022: the share of Russian
radio-electronic products in the domestic market was only 12%, equipment for
the production of baby food – 3%, automatic transmissions for cars – 0%.

Now the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade is looking for these parts in
India – the department sent a list of more than 500 goods to the country that
Russia would like to purchase, from ignition coils for cars to fire extinguishers
for aircraft.

There are 14 pages in the "Indian" list of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It
includes automotive engine parts (ignition coils and oil pumps), bumpers, seat
belts, infotainment systems, aircraft fuel systems, aircraft fire extinguishers, life
jackets and aircraft tyres. The list also included raw materials for the
production of paper, paper bags, consumer packaging, yarn and dyes.

India's total imports from Russia expanded sixfold from February 24 to
November 2022, from $5.89 billion to $29.3 billion. The volume of Indian
exports to Russia is 15 times less.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a trade bloc that comprises
Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian imports
from the EAEU countries increased by 32% in 9 months of 2022 and reached
$22.8bn. The volume of mutual trade in the reporting period exceeded $57bn,
the press service of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said.

"There is a significant increase in Russian imports from the EAEU countries.
For 9 months of 2022, the increase was 32% (up to $22.8bn). This is a clear
example of redirected trade flows and the replacement of goods from
unfriendly countries with products from the Union countries," Deputy Minister
of Economic Development Dmitry Volvach was quoted by the press service.

In 2021, Russia-EEU trade amounted to $72.61bn, of which Russian exports
to the EAEU member countries amounted to $45.3bn. By 7M 2022, that had

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