New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on Friday, just ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, with the two leaders focusing on expanding bilateral trade towards the $100 billion target by 2030 and strengthening cooperation in defence, energy, critical minerals, fertilisers and other strategic sectors.
Putin arrived in New Delhi earlier on Friday for a three-day visit for the BRICS Summit. The meeting at Bharat Mandapam was followed by the two leaders travelling together to a business forum, underlining the economic dimension of the visit.
Follow Defence Watch on LinkedIN
A central focus of the discussions was expanding bilateral trade and investment. India and Russia have set an ambitious $100 billion bilateral trade target for 2030, while New Delhi is seeking greater Russian market access for Indian pharmaceuticals, food products, automobile components and other exports to address the substantial trade imbalance.
The discussions come immediately after the INNOPROM India 2026 industrial trade fair in New Delhi, where both countries pushed for deeper manufacturing, investment and industrial cooperation. India has also invited Russian companies to utilise its industrial corridors and manufacturing ecosystem.
Defence continued to feature prominently in the relationship. Russia has indicated that discussions with India include the remaining deliveries of the S-400 air-defence systems, while Moscow has also spoken about potential cooperation involving the Su-57 fighter aircraft and further development of the BrahMos programme. These remain areas of discussion rather than all being concluded contracts.
The defence relationship is simultaneously moving towards greater industrial cooperation, with both sides seeking to expand joint production, technology cooperation and localisation rather than relying solely on direct equipment purchases.
Energy cooperation was another major pillar of the talks. India and Russia are looking to expand collaboration in civil nuclear energy, while Russian supplies of crude oil and fertilisers remain important components of bilateral economic ties.
The two countries are also exploring cooperation in critical minerals, an increasingly important area as India seeks to secure supplies of strategic raw materials required for advanced manufacturing, electronics, clean-energy technologies and defence production.
The talks also carried a geopolitical dimension. Modi has consistently maintained that the Ukraine conflict should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, a position he reiterated during his August 31 meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.
The latest meeting therefore comes against the backdrop of continuing efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine conflict, while India simultaneously seeks to protect its economic interests and maintain its longstanding strategic relationship with Moscow.
The agenda extended beyond defence and energy to fertilisers, manufacturing, railways, steel, critical minerals, mobility of skilled workers and market access. These areas indicate an effort to diversify the relationship and increase the role of non-defence sectors in bilateral economic ties.
The timing is significant. With Putin in New Delhi for the BRICS Summit and India simultaneously engaging Russia through platforms such as INNOPROM, New Delhi is using both bilateral diplomacy and multilateral platforms to deepen economic and strategic cooperation.
The Modi-Putin talks thus reinforce the trajectory of the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership—with the next phase increasingly centred not only on traditional defence and energy ties, but also on trade diversification, industrial localisation, critical minerals, nuclear energy and broader economic integration.
(Defence Watch– India’s Defence News centre that places the spotlight on Defence Manufacturing, Defence Technology, Strategy and Military affairs is on Twitter. Follow us here and stay updated.)