Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his willingness to set up their manufacturing operations in India. Putin also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "India-first" policy and the "Make in India" initiative speaking at the 15th VTB Russia Calling Investment Forum on Thursday.
Putin further praised the Indian government and its efforts in creating "stable conditions" for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
"The "Make in India" initiative, aimed at boosting manufacturing and attracting foreign investment, has played a key role in strengthening India's position in the global economy," said Putin.
He also drew parallels between Russia's import substitution program and India's "Make in India" initiative and noted that investments in India are profitable.
"Prime Minister Modi has a similar program called Make in India. We are also ready to set up our manufacturing operations in India," he added.
According to Putin, Russian company Rosneft recently invested $20 billion in India.
During his speech, Putin emphasised the importance of BRICS nations collaborating to support SME growth. He also encouraged member countries to identify key areas for collaboration at the upcoming summit in Brazil next year.
"For us, this is particularly important as part of our import substitution program. The emergence of new Russian brands is helping replace those of Western companies that have voluntarily left our market. Our local manufacturers have achieved significant success, not only in consumer goods but also in IT and high-tech industries," he said.
Putin referred to the investment platform that Russia is developing with BRICS and said that it has the potential to benefit all partner countries. He also stressed that it is expected to become an important instrument for supporting the economies of the BRICS nations and providing financial resources to the countries of the Global South and East.
India's Manufacturing Sector
Despite the Indian government's constant push to improve domestic growth through initiatives like Make in India, the country experienced a slowdown in November. India's Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a joint 11-month low of 56.5, as per the HSBC final India Manufacturing PMI. The survey attributed this slowdown to due to competitive market conditions and increasing inflation amid slower factor orders.
India's GDP growth also slowed down to near two-year low of 5.4 per cent during July-September quarter of this fiscal year. Poor performance of the manufacturing sector was one of the major reasons for this slowdown. During this period, GVA in the manufacturing sector slowed to 2.2 per cent against an expansion of 14.3 per cent in the year-ago period.
According to the government data, the share of value addition by the manufacturing sector was 15.9 per cent in 2023-24 as compared to 16.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-14.
