Denis Manturov, Russia's deputy prime minister, will visit India for four days beginning next weekend, with the goal of encouraging Indian exports and investments to his country amid a surge in bilateral trade.

On April 17-18, Manturov, an old India hand, will hold an inter-governmental commission meeting with foreign minister S Jaishankar to discuss a variety of economic and business issues. They last met in Moscow in November 2022, and they met via video conference last month.

The meeting between Manturov and Jaishankar will focus on ways to increase Indian exports to Russia. While Indian exports have increased, there are more demands in a variety of sectors, according to sources familiar with India-Russia relations. Russia is looking for increased Indian investment in the far east. Manturov's meeting is also expected to focus on bilateral trade payments in national currencies.

Manturov spent his childhood in Mumbai, where his father worked as a diplomat in the Soviet Union's consulate.

Trade and business ties were boosted significantly by two mega-meetings in New Delhi at the end of March and early April, as well as the opening of a Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry office in India. Bilateral trade reached $40 billion in 2022-23 and is expected to reach $50 billion in 2023-24. Russia has risen to become one of India's top five trading partners.

In March, the Russian NSA, Rosneft CEO, and Russian Far East Development Minister visited New Delhi in conjunction with the release of President Vladimir Putin's latest foreign policy concept. The document praised India-Russia ties and compared them to Russia's ties with China.

Sergey Katyrin, president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who visited New Delhi last week, stated at an event that an important feature of cooperation is Russian small and medium-sized businesses' strong interest in developing business ties with India.

Among the priority issues for which business expects support, Katyrin cited liberalisation of the customs, tax, and visa regimes; the establishment of effective investment protection mechanisms; improving the efficiency of existing and developing new transport and logistics routes; developing air traffic, including with Russian regions; developing and ensuring the availability of financial infrastructure; and the removal of administrative barriers and other restrictions on trade.