Indian accent

The accelerated development of the North-South ITC in 2023 was made possible largely due to productive cooperation between the countries participating in the corridor, Dmitry Murev, CEO of Russian Railways Logistics, told Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury in an interview with the Indian edition of The Economic Times.

"Synopsis

The International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has contributed to a record rate of trade and economic cooperation between Russia and India. In the 2022-2023 financial year, exports from Russia to India increased by 4.7 times. The activation of INSTC has played a significant role in this growth, reducing the net cost of transportation services along the Eastern route by 50%. All three branches of INSTC are operational, connecting various member countries.

NEW DELHI: Russia and India achieved a record rate of trade and economic cooperation – in 2023 with Russia for the first time getting into the three top trade partners of India due to contribution of International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), CEO of RZD Logistics (top Russian logistics company that operates INSTC) Dmitry Murev told ET.

The export from Russia to India in the 2022-2023 financial year increased by 4.7 times and activation of INSTC is one of the most important factors that contributed to this, according to Murev.

“Our company managed to build strong partnership with the leading participants of transport and logistics industry of India, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, which, in particular, allowed to cut the net cost of the end-to-end transportation service along the Eastern route of INSTC by 50% since August of 2022,” Murev informed.

All three branches of INSTC – Western, Trans-Caspian and Eastern – are working. Each of these routes has its own infrastructure characteristics and perspectives, uniting certain groups of member countries of INSTC, with India and Russia being actively involved in the work of the corridor on all three routes, RZD Logistics CEO pointed out.

The Western route of INSTC connects Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran by rail and auto transport for connecting to India and Persian Gulf countries. In 2022 the volume of transportation along the Western route increased almost by 60% and is demonstrating further steady growth this year
– during the period from January to August of 2023 the volume increased by 16% in comparison to the same period of 2022.

“One of the leading infrastructure projects for Iran and Azerbaijan is the construction of Rasht-Astara railway line, which has become the subject of intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Iran this May. The launch of this line will mark the significant step forward and will help to reveal the potential of INSTC to the full extent,” Murev noted.

Potential advantage of Trans-Caspian route of INSTC is the opportunity to essentially cut the delivery time due to minimal number of border crossings, Murev said, adding, Kazakhstan along with Turkmenistan and Iran is the participant of the most highly developed to this moment Eastern route of INSTC, which is a key transport artery for the delivery of cargo from Russia to India, Persian Gulf countries as well as in reverse direction. INSTC will play a role in pushing trade volumes between Russia and Saudi Arabia and Central Asia (Kazakhstan) and India. 

RZD Logistics is willing to start transportation across Chabahar port as soon as the construction of the adjoining railway network is completed."

By Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, The Economic Times (Indian).