Taliya Minullina, head of the Russia's Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, emphasized that the Russia-India Business Forum will play a key role in expanding two-way commerce while sparking fresh commercial ventures and collaborative enterprises between the two nations.

Addressing on Wednesday on the margins of the second edition of the forum, designated Tatarstan Initiative Mutual Efficiency (TIME), Minullina noted that this recurring gathering is designed to solidify commercial links connecting Russian territories with Indian states across various industries, stating, "Russia-India Business Forum TIME is the biggest event between Russia and India on a business level on an annual basis that is in charge of reinforcing relations between Russian regions and Indian states in different sectors."

Characterizing India as a vast commercial arena for Russian enterprises, Minullina voiced certainty that the gathering would drive up total trade volume while fostering shared business ventures between both countries' corporate sectors, remarking, "India is a huge market, and it has lots of opportunities for Russian businesses. I'm sure that this platform will contribute a lot to the increase of Russian and Indian turnover as well as to new initiatives and joint ventures between Russian and Indian businesses."

Underscoring the rapid surge in trade between India and Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Minullina revealed that exchange values surpassed USD 1 billion during the initial half of 2026, marking a dramatic leap from the USD 300 million recorded throughout the previous year, explaining, "Last year we established this forum, and we had a USD 300 million turnover between Tatarstan and India. This year, in just six months of 2026, we have more than USD 1 billion, so it has increased three times."

Pointing to the necessity of fostering deeper direct corporate ties and enhancing insight into regional markets, Minullina maintained that closer networking would generate mutual economic advantages, asserting, "I feel that we need more business-to-business information, more contacts, and once we have more contacts and more people know about each other, it will be better for both countries. We just need to know more about Indian states."

Detailing the broad spectrum of programs executed to advance bilateral commercial and cultural ties, Minullina noted that approximately 50 distinct gatherings were staged, ranging from Indian film showcases, cricket games, and chess tournaments to specialized panel discussions, industrial tours, and media exchanges, elaborating, "We organised almost 50 different events, including the festival of Indian cinema. In Russia, we organised the cricket match and even have a cricket federation in Tatarstan, especially to work with India. We organised chess matches, lots of conferences and business sessions devoted to sectors, as well as industrial site visits for Indian people. We invited mass media from India, from different Indian states, to make it possible for Indian businesses to know more about Russian market opportunities for them."

Concurrently, Jeysundhar Deviprasadh, the Indian Consul General stationed in Kazan, explained that the second iteration of the Kazan-hosted business summit is tailored to deepen economic synergy by bringing Indian corporate leaders together with local entrepreneurs, observing, "And this city of Kazan and this region of Tatarstan is one of the dynamically growing and one of the richest parts of Russia, which is why we are hosting this summit here, this business forum here, so that we have Indian businesses coming here and interacting with their Russian counterparts in order to not only increase awareness about the potential opportunities on the other side for Russia and India as well as for India and Russia, but also to build upon the existing ties and continue to explore what opportunities we would have for strengthening our business interactions, taking it beyond the political spectrum and into the economic relations area."

Source: ANI