India To Address Trade Deficit Concerns With Russia Amid Putin's Visit: Sources

India is gearing up for Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming two-day visit on Dec. 4 and 5. During his stay, trade will take centrestage, sources told NDTV Profit on Tuesday.

The current $68 billion trade volume is skewed in favour of Russia. While New Delhi imports goods and services amounting to around $65 billion, Moscow imports around $5 billion from India.

Therefore, New Delhi will also address trade deficit concerns with Russia and look at doing meaningful exports of pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food products, the sources added.

The visit comes at a time when India's trade relations with Russia are not only being scrutinised, but also penalised by the United States. The latter has imposed hefty punitive tariffs on India for its purchase of Russian oil. In this context, energy supplies are also to be discussed, as per the sources.

Moreover, skilled workers mobility could also be addressed through a pact. The Moscow Kremlin, commonly known as just the Kremlin has reportedly indicated it aims to boost bilateral trade with India to $100 billion and will sign several important documents.

Till 2022, oil imports from Russia had not exceeded $5 billion in value. But in 2023, India spent nearly eight times more to buy Russian oil at $39 billion. In the last two years, India has imported Russian crude oil worth $54 billion and $57 billion, respectively.

This trend, however, may tick downwards with Donald Trump's new sanctions on Russia. These sanctions target two of Russia's largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in a bid to pressure President Putin into ending the war in Ukraine. Accordingly, refiners have turned to alternatives to avoid breaching Western sanctions amid US trade tariffs.

As per news agency Reuters, oil imports from Russia are set to hit their lowest in at least three years in December, down from the multi-month highs in November.