NEW DELHI: The Russian government is promoting a 7,200 km long trade route that would connect St Petersburg in Russia to ports in India like Nava Sheva in Mumbai and Mundra in Gujrat. This route will reduce the transportation time of goods from 40 days it takes at present (via Suez Canal) to 25 days.
A trial run on this route is being done at present, where a consignment of wood laminates is expected to land at one of the ports in India within the next few days. Sources point out that this trial began soon after Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, visited India last month.
The INSTC corridor is 7,200 km long and will provide routes through ship, rail and road routes interlinking India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
“The route appears like this. A container goes overland from St Petersburg to Astrakhan (southern Russia). Then the cargo sails via the Caspian sea to the Iranian port of Bandar Anzeli and then transported overland to the port of Bandar Abbas. After this is takes the sea route to reach Nava Sheva, the largest seaport of India. The main operators will be Iran and Russia,’’ say sources.
Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin, has been promoting this route.
“We think a lot needs to be done to improve the transport and logistics architecture of the region. First of all, we are talking about building the INSTC which our colleagues have talked about. I fully agree with these approaches. This is a truly ambitious project, a 7,200-kilometre-long transport artery from St Petersburg to ports in Iran and India,’’ said President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, during the 6th Caspian Summit held in Ashgabat.
The Caspian Summit was attended by leaders of its five members Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Some experts say that INSTC could be a viable alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as India’s geopolitical strategy will be in sync with this corridor.
Besides, India has smooth access to Chabahar and its freight forwarding facilities which is crucial to INSTC’s viability.
One will have to wait and see whether this route would be viable for the import of crude, or other goods that are exchanged between Russia, India, Iran and other countries enroute.
As of now, Russia is India’s main supplier of defence hardware and now there has been a surge in oil imports due to heavy discounts Russia is offering discounts in the range of $35 per barrel.