Piyush Goyal (File photo)
NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal Thursday called for a need to balance bilateral trade with Russia, which is heavily tilted in Moscow’s favour due to large imports of crude petroleum and fertiliser.India exported goods worth under $5 billion last year, comprising largely of machinery, pharma and chemicals, while imports added up to $64 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $59 billion — almost eight times the level before the Ukraine conflict.
“The bilateral trade is very skewed and needs to be more balanced. We need to bring more diversity in our trade basket. We need to make it more balanced… and there’s so much to offer between both countries,” he said at Ficci’s India-Russia business forum.
