Russian enterprises are waiting in the key industrial state of India

The authorities and businesses of the advanced industrial Indian state of Gujarat are interested in opening enterprises of Russian industrial companies. Shri Jagdish Prasad Gupta, Director of the Finance Department of the Government of Gujarat, told Vedomosti about this on the sidelines of a meeting of journalists with members of the state government.

According to him, the Indian side can invest in site projects, infrastructure and labor force. “We are the leading industrial state of India, we have everything to accommodate enterprises. We have many foreign manufacturers: in the automotive industry these are Honda, Ford and others, in semiconductors – Micron, we are the leader in diamond cutting, we are also developed in transport engineering, medical technology and petrochemistry. The state is interested in cooperation with Russia in at least three industrial areas. We are open to all foreign manufacturers who want to build enterprises with us, invest in production, including Russian ones. We have the infrastructure and skilled workforce,” Gupta said.

In which three industrial sectors Gujarat wants to cooperate in contacts with Russian business, the official did not specify. Director of the Department of Mines and Industry of Gujarat Shri Syed Javaid Haider, answering a question from Vedomosti during a press conference, noted that before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in 2022, a delegation of representatives of state authorities and business visited Russia, but “due to known events, the visit planned for 2022 was canceled.” “We still hope to hold mutual visits of this kind, when the situation [ стабилизируется]”, – Haider told the correspondent of Vedomosti on the sidelines of the meeting.

At the end of 2022, Gujarat gave the Indian economy 9% of GDP, 18% of industrial production, and the latter is significantly represented by transport engineering, both automotive and railway, textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and semiconductors. Gujarat is also India’s leader in diamond cutting, accounting for 78% of the processing of these gems. India, in turn, is a world leader: 95% of the cut stones on the market are of Indian origin.

Gujarat, according to data provided by the state authorities, gave 33% of all Indian exports last year, the ports of the state account for up to 40% of cargo transshipment. The state also has a significant workforce: the population of Gujarat in 2023 is more than 60 million, which is comparable to the population of one of the BRICS members – the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) – 65.5 million people.