Act Now or Step Aside India's Russia Test Begins

Something changed in Delhi last week when Vladimir Putin arrived.

- 

His visit did not carry the soft ambiguity of diplomacy; it carried the weight of a strategic opening.Russia has turned its economic attention toward India, not out of sentiment but necessity. Western suppliers have collapsed, sanctions have reshaped trade routes, and Moscow now needs partners who can deliver at scale. India fits that description-at least on paper. Whether we act like it is another matter.

The summit produced headlines, but beneath them lay a test. Russia and India committed to $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. Moscow signaled that 9096% of trade is already moving through rupees and rubles, a rare advantage in a world where the dollar is increasingly weaponised.

The INSTC has matured enough to cut transit time to 22-25 days, turning a oncehypothetical route into a functioning corridor. And Russia's domestic marketabandoned by European and U.S. suppliers-now needs tens of billions of dollars' worth of pharmaceuticals, machinery, components, electrical goods, food products, and industrial inputs.

If India fails to respond to this moment, we will have only ourselves to blame.So far, India's reaction looks slow and dangerously casual. We exported only $4.8 billion to Russia last year while importing $63.8 billion, mostly crude. Such imbalance should trigger a nation al mobilisation. Instead, it is treated like an accounting detail. But the stakes are strategic. Russia is not merely a buyer-it is a major power searching for alternatives. And alternatives fill up quickly. The urgency sharpens when we consider the American landscape.