India, Russia Discuss Rupee-Rouble Trade & Tariff Barriers | Commerce Secretary

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) India and Russia are discussing holding trade in local currencies and reducing non-tariff barriers by Moscow to boost the bilateral trade, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Wednesday.

The secretary raised these issues during his meetings with Russian Minister for Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov; Russia's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Alexey Gruzdev; Head of FSVPS (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision) Sergei Dankvert of the Russian Federation last month.

"We discussed a lot of issues to improve trade between India and Russia. We also discussed how to facilitate rupee-rouble trade, how non-tariff measures are impacting our trade and how they should be reduced," he told reporters here.

He added that Russia has started working to cut the barriers. Indian export sectors such as meat and pharma face issues in Russia.

India, Barthwal said, also discussed diversification of trade beyond petroleum products.

"We are expecting that even in non-petroleum trade, there will be a good improvement in volumes," he said.

Further, the secretary said that balancing bilateral trade is key at present as there is a trade imbalance.

"The rupee-rouble trade will also be affected only when there is more balance of trade," he said adding that over 53 vostro accounts have been opened.

The meetings with Russia hold significance as both countries look to increase the bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.

India is focussing on various sectors like electronics, besides taking up issues of non-trade barriers in areas like shrimp and pharma, to boost exports to sanction-hit Russia and move towards achieving this target.

At present, the bilateral trade stands at about USD 67 billion.

India's exports to Russia stood at USD 4.3 billion in 2023-24 while imports were USD 61.4 billion, driven by crude oil. Trade deficit was USD 57.1 billion. The share of crude oil and petroleum products in imports was 88 per cent.