EAM Jaishankar highlights $58.9 Billion Trade Gap with Russia and calls for urgent action
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar mentioned during his visits to Moscow that India's $58.9 billion trade deficit with Russia caused largely by oil imports needed to be addressed through concrete measures with an aim at effecting a balance in trade.
On August 21, 2025, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, in Moscow, said that India has become increasingly anxious regarding the growing trade imbalance in Russia.. At a major bilateral meeting, he highlighted the fact that India's trade deficit with Russia has now reached $58.9 billion which he deemed as unsustainable. The primary cause, he said, was the catastrophic rise in India’s Russian oil imports. While these transactions allowed India to procure energy at favourable rates, it has tilted the trade balance in favour of Russia.
Trade Expansion and Trade Gap
Jaishankar enunciated that the trade between the two countries had accelerated rapidly over the last few years. Overall bilateral trade had grown from approximately $13 billion in 2021 to around $68 billion in 2024-25; simultaneously, the trade gap itself had also similarly expanded dramatically from $6.6 billion in 2021 to $58.9 billion in 2025.
"This imbalance has to be resolved as a matter of urgency," Jaishankar stated, stressing that India cannot be reliant on energy imports, without making efforts to build up its own exports to Russia.
Ideas for Correcting the Imbalance
The minister presented a road map to create a more even relationship including:
● Lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers on goods and services.
● Addressing logistics challenges through trade routes like the International North-South Transport Corridor and the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime link.
● Improving payments systems, including expanded rupee-rouble payment mechanisms.
● Continuing the FTA discussions between India and the Eurasian Economic Union.
● Developing stronger business collaborations between Indian and Russian companies.
He reiterated India's vision for $100 billion worth of bilateral trade by 2030, but referenced that growth would have to be more symmetrical.
Russia's Responsiveness and Prospects
While Russian officials responded by reassuring India that they were working on reducing the imbalance, they signaled even more energy supply expansion, but they were also talking about how to increase the opportunities for Indian goods to find their way to Russian shelves.
An Encouragement To Mutual Benefit
India's large oil imports from Russia may have alleviated domestic fuel costs, but the imbalance poses long-term risk. By tandeming the conversation of fairer trade practices, Jaishankar indicated that India is interested in not just increased volumes of trade-but a sustainable two-way relationship with Russia. The significant discussions while in Moscow were an obvious step toward transforming the economic relationship into one that benefits both sides equally.
Moreover, while sanctions on Russia are likely to remain for the foreseeable future, a healthy import-export relationship might help offset any reputational damage that Russia suffers as a result of being an aggressor in the ongoing eastern European war.
