Three ways to do business with Russia
1. Sell through a Russian importer or distributor
The importer buys your goods, imports them, clears them and resells them in Russia. You sell to one company; it carries the stock, the customers and the Russian paperwork on its side. This is how most Indian exporters start, and it needs no presence in Russia. The risk sits in choosing the importer: whether it is real, solvent and able to sell your product. See importers in Russia: how to find and check a buyer.
2. Appoint an agent
An agent finds buyers for you and is paid a commission on sales, but does not buy the goods. An agent can open doors you cannot open from India. It is not a buyer, and its contract should say exactly which territory and products it covers, how its commission is earned and how the agreement ends.
3. Set up your own Russian company
A company of your own gives you control of customers, stock and registrations, at the cost of running a company in another legal system and language. Most Indian companies only take this step once the trade has proved itself through an importer or distributor.
Company forms: the limited liability company (OOO)
The form most often met in Russian trade is the limited liability company, in Russian obshchestvo s ogranichennoy otvetstvennostyu, abbreviated OOO. Its basics are set by Federal Law No. 14-FZ of 8 February 1998 "On Limited Liability Companies":
- It is a business company whose charter capital is divided into shares. Its participants are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses only up to the value of their shares (Article 2).
- Participants can be citizens and legal entities, and a company can be founded by one person (Article 7).
- The number of participants must not exceed fifty (Article 7).
- The charter capital must be at least ten thousand roubles, and is set in roubles (Article 14).
- The company's Russian name must contain the words "s ogranichennoy otvetstvennostyu" (with limited liability), or in the short name the abbreviation OOO (Article 4).
For you as an exporter, this matters in two ways. First, when you see "OOO" in a buyer's name, you know its owners' liability is limited to their shares: the company itself is what you are dealing with, so its own accounts and court record matter. Second, if you set up your own company, take advice from a Russian lawyer on registration, tax and currency rules. We do not register companies or give legal advice.
Language and contracts
Business in Russia is done in Russian. Company records, filed accounts, court cases and most correspondence are in Russian, and many buyers prefer to negotiate in Russian.
Use a bilingual contract, Russian and English side by side, and agree which language governs if they differ. Write in the product specification and tolerances, the delivery terms, the payment route, inspection rights and how disputes are settled. A specification that both sides have signed in both languages prevents the most common dispute: goods that do not match the sample.
Payment background
Payment is the question to settle first, with your bank, in writing, before you sign. One framework is the Reserve Bank of India's circular of 11 July 2022, RBI/2022-2023/90 (A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.10), which put in place an arrangement for invoicing, payment and settlement of exports and imports in Indian rupees. Under it, banks in India may open Special Rupee Vostro Accounts for correspondent banks of the partner country; Indian importers pay into those accounts, and Indian exporters are paid their export proceeds in rupees from them. Banks need the RBI's prior approval to put the mechanism in place.
At the 23rd Annual Summit on 5 December 2025, both governments agreed to continue developing bilateral settlement systems in national currencies, and named regular contact between the two countries' businesses as one of the key elements for reaching the revised bilateral trade target of US$ 100 billion by 2030.
Read how payments between India and Russia work. We do not route payments or hold funds.
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Tell us your product. We find, check and introduce the right company.
Sanctions and restricted-party screening
Screening is a must. Before you sign with any Russian company, screen the company, its owners and its directors against the restricted-party lists that apply to you, your bank and your goods, and check whether your product or the end-user is restricted. Ownership matters as much as the company name: a company can look clean while its owner is listed.
Your bank will run its own checks, and a partner your bank will not deal with is a partner you cannot be paid by. Screen before the first price, not after the first order. This is not legal advice; confirm with your bank and your own adviser.
The trade in numbers
In FY2025-26 India exported US$ 4,493.51 million of goods to Russia and imported US$ 55,363.11 million, for total trade of US$ 59,856.62 million. In April to August 2026, Indian exports to Russia were US$ 2,035.81 million, 10.68% more than in the same months of 2025.
Machinery, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment and chemicals lead Indian exports. See the full table in how to export from India to Russia and year by year on our trade data page.
How a partner search runs
- Brief. You tell us what you sell or buy, your volumes and regions, and the partner you need: buyer, distributor, agent or supplier.
- Search. Our Moscow desk searches in Russia, in Russian; our India desk does the same in India.
- Check. The company register at egrul.nalog.ru, filed accounts, court cases on kad.arbitr.ru, restricted-party screening, and a visit where the trade justifies it.
- Short list. Only the companies that pass, with what we found.
- First meeting. A call, a visit or a meeting at a trade fair.
After that the two companies deal directly. We do not handle documents, customs, certification, payments, freight, inspection, labelling or licensing. See partner search.
Send us your brief
Tell us what you sell or buy and what kind of Russian partner you need. Within 2 working days we reply with what a search in your product would involve.