India-Russia Trade Deal: India wants to sell more defence equipment to other countries and share limited defence technology. A government official said this will happen through a new free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. Talking about the plan, the official clearly said, “We will look to expand defence exports, and some amount of technology transfer too”.
The Eurasian Economic Union started in 2015. It includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The group works to make trade easier between its members by cutting rules and reducing trade problems. India now wants to use this platform to grow its defence business and improve access for Indian-made weapons and systems.
P-75(I) submarine project: India-Germany defence ties, Strength and Challenges
Defence Trade With Russia still One-Sided
At present, India sells very little defence equipment to Russia. Official numbers show that India’s arms and ammunition exports to Russia dropped from about $18.3 million in 2019-20 to just $1.2 million in 2022-23. Later, exports improved slightly and reached around $4.7 million in 2023-24. Even now, these exports form less than 1% of India’s total exports to Russia. This shows that defence trade between the two nations mostly flows in one direction.
Russia has been giving weapons to India for a very long time. From 2020 to 2024, Russia provided about 36% of all arms that India bought. Earlier, this number was much higher. It went down because India started buying weapons from other countries and also began making more weapons at home. Russia is still a big and important source for fighter planes, tanks and air defence systems for India.
Indian Army officially names ATAGS as Amogh Before Army Day Parade
Free Trade Agreement Talks
The planned free trade agreement aims to slowly balance this uneven defence relationship. India and the Russia-led EAEU signed the Terms of Reference in August 2025 to officially begin talks. The first round of discussions took place from November 26-28, 2025. A second round is likely in February this year. These talks will mainly focus on non-tariff barriers, rule alignment and better market access for Indian products inside the bloc.
Trade between India and the EAEU already shows steady growth. In 2024, total trade touched $69 billion. This marked a 7% rise compared to 2023. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow in 2024, India and Russia also promised to push bilateral trade beyond $100 billion by 2030.
