As BRICS draws global attention to Delhi, Russia is using INNOPROM India to turn diplomatic ties into deeper industrial and commercial partnerships.
Russia's leading industrial and technology firms have arrived in New Delhi this week, using the inaugural INNOPROM India trade fair to press their case for deeper commercial ties with India at a moment when both countries are working to dismantle barriers that have long slowed their trade relationship.
The three-day fair, running from September 9 to 11 at the Bharat Mandapam exhibition complex, brings together more than 130 Russian and Indian companies just days before India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit over the weekend. The timing is not incidental. Organisers designed the event to coincide with the BRICS Business Forum, giving Russian firms a platform to court Indian buyers while the world's attention is already fixed on Delhi.
The fair is a joint initiative between Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade and India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with Formika Event managing operations on the Russian side and the Confederation of Indian Industry coordinating the Indian side. Both national sections have been given equal exhibition space, a detail organisers have been careful to highlight as a sign of parity between the two partners.
The scale of Russian participation is notable. Some of the country's largest state-run corporations, including Rostec, Rosatom, Roscosmos, United Aircraft Corporation, United Engine Corporation and Sber, feature alongside industrial firms such as Transmashholding, RUSAL and PhosAgro. Their offerings span medical equipment, robotics and transport digitalisation, sectors where Russian companies believe India's expanding industrial base offers fresh openings.
Maksim Liksutov, Moscow's deputy mayor responsible for transport and industry, framed the fair as part of a broader strategy to consolidate the Russian capital's position as India's leading trade partner within Russia. According to Liksutov, the Moscow region alone accounted for 45 percent of Russia's total trade with India in the first half of 2026, while the city's exports of engineering products to India grew fivefold over the same period. Companies from the Technopolis Moscow Special Economic Zone are using the fair to hold direct talks with Indian buyers, part of an effort to convert broad diplomatic goodwill into specific commercial contracts.
Several exhibitors have brought highly specific, niche technologies rather than generic industrial pitches. The Institute for Scientific Research Microelectronic Equipment Progress is showcasing a high-precision geodetic collaboration platform, while NEX-T is presenting proprietary liquid-crystal display technology, including an all-in-one desktop computer and an interactive educational panel system. Moscow's Scientific and Productive Centre Echoplus is exhibiting a phased-array ultrasonic flaw detector used for industrial testing, and Transtelematica is presenting transport digitalisation solutions aimed at India's logistics and infrastructure sectors.
The broader trade numbers underline why both governments are investing diplomatic energy in the fair. Russia-India trade turnover crossed $60 billion by the end of 2025, having grown nearly sevenfold over the preceding five years, largely on the back of Indian energy imports. INNOPROM India represents an attempt to diversify that relationship beyond oil, extending it into manufacturing, technology and industrial equipment where India is actively building capacity.
Indian officials have welcomed the platform as a way to draw Russian expertise into the country's industrial corridor projects. Vishnu Sharma, deputy director general for corporate affairs and marketing at the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, described the fair as a bridge between Russian technology providers and India's push to build modern industrial smart cities, noting that such platforms allow international firms direct access to Indian planners and investors.
Business matchmaking has been built into the fair's design. The Russian Export Center and the Confederation of Indian Industry have set up dedicated networking zones where companies can identify suppliers, customers and potential joint venture partners, alongside more than ten formal business sessions held over the three days.
For India, hosting the fair days before the BRICS Summit allows it to project an image of active economic engagement with a key strategic partner, even as it continues to balance that relationship against its ties with Western economies and ongoing global scrutiny of trade with Russia. For Moscow, the fair offers a chance to demonstrate that its industrial sector remains competitive and export-ready despite years of sanctions, using India's growing market as a proving ground. Whether the deals discussed at Bharat Mandapam translate into long-term industrial partnerships, or remain largely symbolic gestures timed to a diplomatic calendar, will become clearer only after the cameras leave Delhi.
Russia's leading industrial and technology firms have arrived in New Delhi this week, using the inaugural INNOPROM India trade fair to press their case for deeper commercial ties with India at a moment when both countries are working to dismantle barriers that have long slowed their trade relationship.
The three-day fair, running from September 9 to 11 at the Bharat Mandapam exhibition complex, brings together more than 130 Russian and Indian companies just days before India hosts the 18th BRICS Summit over the weekend. The timing is not incidental. Organisers designed the event to coincide with the BRICS Business Forum, giving Russian firms a platform to court Indian buyers while the world's attention is already fixed on Delhi.
The fair is a joint initiative between Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade and India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with Formika Event managing operations on the Russian side and the Confederation of Indian Industry coordinating the Indian side. Both national sections have been given equal exhibition space, a detail organisers have been careful to highlight as a sign of parity between the two partners.
The scale of Russian participation is notable. Some of the country's largest state-run corporations, including Rostec, Rosatom, Roscosmos, United Aircraft Corporation, United Engine Corporation and Sber, feature alongside industrial firms such as Transmashholding, RUSAL and PhosAgro. Their offerings span medical equipment, robotics and transport digitalisation, sectors where Russian companies believe India's expanding industrial base offers fresh openings.
Maksim Liksutov, Moscow's deputy mayor responsible for transport and industry, framed the fair as part of a broader strategy to consolidate the Russian capital's position as India's leading trade partner within Russia. According to Liksutov, the Moscow region alone accounted for 45 percent of Russia's total trade with India in the first half of 2026, while the city's exports of engineering products to India grew fivefold over the same period. Companies from the Technopolis Moscow Special Economic Zone are using the fair to hold direct talks with Indian buyers, part of an effort to convert broad diplomatic goodwill into specific commercial contracts.
Several exhibitors have brought highly specific, niche technologies rather than generic industrial pitches. The Institute for Scientific Research Microelectronic Equipment Progress is showcasing a high-precision geodetic collaboration platform, while NEX-T is presenting proprietary liquid-crystal display technology, including an all-in-one desktop computer and an interactive educational panel system. Moscow's Scientific and Productive Centre Echoplus is exhibiting a phased-array ultrasonic flaw detector used for industrial testing, and Transtelematica is presenting transport digitalisation solutions aimed at India's logistics and infrastructure sectors.
The broader trade numbers underline why both governments are investing diplomatic energy in the fair. Russia-India trade turnover crossed $60 billion by the end of 2025, having grown nearly sevenfold over the preceding five years, largely on the back of Indian energy imports. INNOPROM India represents an attempt to diversify that relationship beyond oil, extending it into manufacturing, technology and industrial equipment where India is actively building capacity.
Indian officials have welcomed the platform as a way to draw Russian expertise into the country's industrial corridor projects. Vishnu Sharma, deputy director general for corporate affairs and marketing at the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, described the fair as a bridge between Russian technology providers and India's push to build modern industrial smart cities, noting that such platforms allow international firms direct access to Indian planners and investors.
Business matchmaking has been built into the fair's design. The Russian Export Center and the Confederation of Indian Industry have set up dedicated networking zones where companies can identify suppliers, customers and potential joint venture partners, alongside more than ten formal business sessions held over the three days.
For India, hosting the fair days before the BRICS Summit allows it to project an image of active economic engagement with a key strategic partner, even as it continues to balance that relationship against its ties with Western economies and ongoing global scrutiny of trade with Russia. For Moscow, the fair offers a chance to demonstrate that its industrial sector remains competitive and export-ready despite years of sanctions, using India's growing market as a proving ground. Whether the deals discussed at Bharat Mandapam translate into long-term industrial partnerships, or remain largely symbolic gestures timed to a diplomatic calendar, will become clearer only after the cameras leave Delhi.
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