Governor of Chelyabinsk Region, Russia invites Indian industry to tap investment opportunities

NEW DELHI, April 20, 2017: Mr.Boris Dubrovsky, Governor, Chelyabinsk Region, Russia, today invited Indian industry to explore the investment opportunities in the Chelyabinsk Region of Russia, which offers tax incentives to foreign investors. Speaking at an interactive session organized by FICCI, he held out the assurance that the Chelyabinsk Region would cooperate with the Indian businesses and their investment will be fully protected.
Mr.Dubrovsky said that Indian investments in Russia were estimated at US$ 8 billion and Russian investments in India totalled about US$ 3 billion. The volume of trade needed to be scaled up, he said adding that there was a need to promote new opportunities for economic and trade cooperation and promote the International North-South Transport Corridor, which would reduce the transit time by almost 40 per cent between India and Russia.
Governor Dubrovsky said that the industrial development of the region was determined by the metallurgical, car-building, fuel-energy, construction, agricultural-industrial complexes. Besides, the region had rich and varied natural resources and qualified work resources. He added that the level of investment cooperation between the two countries had been extremely low and added that the Chelyabinsk Region had some ready potential investment projects which Indian industry could consider for investment.
Mr. Anatoly Kargapolov, Charge d’Affairs, Embassy of Russia in India, said that India and Russia enjoyed stable economic ties and India with its growing market offered ample business opportunities. India and Russia’s multifaceted relationship also focused on economic advancement and the leaders of India and Russia were eager to develop this relationship further. He added that the interactive session and B2B meetings scheduled for the day should conclude with concrete results.
Mr. G. V. Srinivas, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, said that to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between India and Russia, a motor rally was being organized to promote the International North-South Transport Corridor. He added that the leaders of the two nations attached high priority to developing relations between India and Russia and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to St. Petersburg for a forum in June testified to this desire.
Mr. Srinivas said that there was a need for Indian industry to explore diverse regions of Russia and forge partnerships in unconventional sectors. Besides, areas of cooperation such as energy, aviation, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, telecommunications, high technologies and ICT, India could partner with Russian in artificial intelligence, robotics and big data.
Mr. Yaroslav Tarasyuk, Trade Commissioner, Trade Representation of Russia in India, said that there have been several business delegations from both sides visiting varied regions in India and Russia respectively. This underlines that the industry of India and Russia were eager to forge partnerships and alliances and were exploring new areas of cooperation. He added that the B2B meetings that were taking place between India and Chelyabinsk Region businesses would be fruitful.
Sharing his experience of running business in Russia, Mr. V. Sivakumar, Executive Director, Sungroup Enterprises Private Limited, said that Russia was a lucrative but challenging market.
Persistent efforts were needed to establish a fruitful enterprise with local presence and unfaltering commitment. He said that besides establishing business relations, Indian business needed to develop personal and friendly relationships.
Mr. Sivakumar said that logistics was a challenge and for fast movement of goods there was a need to utilize the North-South Transport Corridor, which would reduce the transit time considerably. He added that the industry on both sides should look beyond the traditional areas of cooperation.
19 MoUs were exchanged between the leaders of India and Russia in Goa in 2016. It was time for the industry on both sides to leverage these MOUs and develop business opportunities.