India and Russia Chart a New Economic Architecture Beyond Energy and Defence

A landmark one-day forum at the India International Centre, New Delhi, convenes senior diplomats, parliamentarians, and industry leaders to advance the $100 billion bilateral trade vision.

The Indo Russia ‘Innopraktika’ Technology Hub (IRITH) successfully hosted “India-Russia: Expanding Frontiers of Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership,” a high-level policy forum bringing together policymakers, strategists, academics, industry leaders, and students to reimagine the bilateral relationship for a rapidly shifting world order.

Held at the India International Centre in New Delhi, the forum unfolded across four plenary sessions addressing high-technology collaboration, energy security, trade and investment, and critical minerals. The day's deliberations were framed against the backdrop of the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit held in December 2025, at which President Putin's state visit to New Delhi produced an ambitious Economic Cooperation Programme (ECP) targeting bilateral trade of $100 billion by 2030.

The forum opened with a lamp-lighting ceremony and the national anthems of both nations. Mr. Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counsellor of the Russian Embassy in India, delivered the keynote address, describing the partnership as “always evolving, unstoppable, and enriched with multiplying pillars.” He noted that Russia remains India's fourth-largest trading partner, with bilateral turnover exceeding $63 billion in 2025, and reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to deepening cooperation in nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, critical minerals, and agriculture.

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Honourable Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and former Foreign Secretary, delivered the Special Address, warning that the world had entered an era where “trade restrictions and technology controls are no longer occasional instruments, they are now part of the grammar of international statecraft.” He argued that India's strategic autonomy demanded deepening the Russia relationship across critical minerals, industrial mobility, and frontier technologies including AI and quantum computing, noting that Russia's crude supplies had provided “much-needed stability” to India's energy market at a time of global turbulence.

Key Themes Across Four Plenaries

1. High-Tech Collaboration: Moderated by Mr. Debjit Chakraborty, CEO of IRITH, Plenary I examined sovereign hardware, cybersecurity, AI-driven manufacturing, and the institutional frameworks needed to operationalise the ECP. Ambassador Pankaj Saran, Convenor of NATSTRAT, delivered special remarks underscoring the unique depth of bilateral trust that enables genuinely sovereign deep-tech development.

2. Energy Partnership: Moderated by Mr. Nandan Unnikrishnan, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Plenary II assessed cooperation spanning fossil fuels, LNG-LPG, and civil nuclear energy. Ambassador Venkatesh Verma, Member of the National Security Advisory Board, delivered special remarks on the strategic dimensions of energy ties.

3. Trade, Investment & Joint Projects: Also moderated by Mr. Nandan Unnikrishnan, Plenary III tackled trade imbalances, payment architecture, and the diversification imperative. Ambassador Jawed Ashraf, Chairman of ITPO, delivered special remarks calling for fast-tracking the India-Eurasian Economic Union FTA, for which Terms of Reference were signed in August 2025, as a gateway to a $6.5 trillion market.

4. Critical Minerals: Plenary IV addressed joint exploration, extraction, and value addition of rare earths and critical minerals. Dr. Andrey Podchufarov, Head of the Economic Department at the Trade Representation of Russia in India, outlined Russia's vast mineral expertise, while Mr. R. Saravanabhavan, Deputy Adviser (Minerals) at NITI Aayog, underscored India's strategic supply chain resilience imperatives and the case for reducing dependence on third-country sources.

Between the afternoon sessions, Ms. Natalia Popova, First Deputy CEO of InnoPraktika Russia, delivered a Special video Address reaffirming the institutional commitment of InnoPraktika to expanding the innovation-driven dimension of the partnership and deepening the work of IRITH as a shared platform for research, entrepreneurship, and technology exchange.

The forum also showcased IRITH's sovereign hardware projects, the award-winning OYLA STEM magazine for Indian school students, and the academic programmes of Synergy University, reflecting the Hub's commitment to people-to-people and educational dimensions of the partnership alongside high policy dialogue.