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Bilateral trade rose from $13 billion in 2021 to $60 billion in 2025, while the trade imbalance widened from $6.6 billion to over $50 billion in Russia's favour

Archis Mohan New Delhi 3 min read Last Updated : Aug 27 2026 | 9:08 PM IST

Increasing bilateral trade and addressing the imbalance in trade between the two countries will be a focus area of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31-September 1.

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Thursday that a meeting between Modi and Putin has been confirmed. At the SCO Summit in Bishkek, Modi will also hold meetings with other leaders, and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely.

The discussions between Modi and Putin will build on the 27th session of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation, held in Moscow earlier this week between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, officials said.

During his meeting with Jaishankar, the Russian President expressed Moscow's willingness to increase its fertiliser supplies to India's agricultural sector. 6 billion to over $50 billion in Russia’s favour. “Addressing this imbalance is today one of our foremost priorities,” Jaishankar said. He said progress on market access, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, strengthening payment mechanisms and stronger business-to-business engagement would be critical to addressing the imbalance and achieving the shared objective of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

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