By Sakshi Dayal
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Russian oil producer Rosneft invested $20 billion in India recently, the Indian government quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying in a statement on Thursday, without giving details.
Putin said in January that Rosneft planned to expand its presence in India and Indian government officials said in July that India could seek deals with Rosneft and other oil firms as it looked to strengthen its energy ties with Russia.
“We are also ready to set up our manufacturing operations in India … We believe that investing in India is profitable,” Putin said at the 15th VTB Russia Calling Investment Forum on Wednesday, according to the Indian statement.
Rosneft gained access to India’s fuel retail market when it completed a $12.9 billion deal to acquire Indian private refiner Essar Oil in 2017.
The Russian oil major told Reuters in May that India was a “strategic partner”, and it was cooperating with Indian companies in “production, oil refining and trading of oil and petroleum products”.
New Delhi and Moscow are old friends from the days of the former Soviet Union and have strong diplomatic and defence ties. India has not condemned Russia over its war in Ukraine while urging both sides to end the conflict through diplomacy.
At the same time, New Delhi has also sharply raised its purchases of cheap Russian oil saying this is in India’s national interest, frustrating Western capitals.
Russia replaced Iraq as India’s top oil supplier since the war, as Indian refiners snapped up Russian crude rejected by Western countries.
Russia’s trade with India nearly doubled to $65 billion in 2023, largely on the back of India’s oil imports, and the countries aim to boost bilateral trade by more than half to hit $100 billion by 2030.
On Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that India needed better access to the Russian economy.
“We are pressing the Russian leadership very strongly saying look, we are buying so many things … we also need better access … I think we will make progress,” he said at a conference in New Delhi.
Putin is due to visit India early next year – his first trip to the country since the war in Ukraine began – with the Kremlin saying on Monday that preparations were underway for the trip.
(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal. Additional reporting by Shivam Patel. Editing by YP Rajesh and Mark Potter)
