India’s plans for collaboration in mining, steel and coking coal imports from Russia have come unstuck following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic sanctions imposed on Russia, Indian government sources said on Monday, February 28.
India’s Ministry of Coal along with officials from external affairs are scouting alternative sourcing of coking coal now that Russian banks have been excluded from the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system as a punitive measure.
However, given India’s current stand on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and geopolitical alignments and the impact of economic sanctions on the invading country, Indian government officials are not commenting on record, but sources said that India’s attempt to diversify coking coal imports from Russia and decrease its reliance on Australia has almost come unstuck as neither deliveries not payments will be possible in view of global sanctions.
In October 2021, India and Russia had signed an agreement for collaboration in the mining and steel sectors, with the focus on India buying coking coal from Russia.
The agreement between the two countries was signed by Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, India’s minister of steel, and Nikolay Shulginov, Russia’s minister of energy.
The agreement between the two countries signed in Moscow envisaged implementation of joint projects and commercial activities in coking coal, including long-term supplies of high-quality coking coal to India, development of coking coal deposits and logistics development, the sharing of experience in coking coal production management, the technologies of mining, beneficiation and processing, as well as training, the Indian government statement issued in October had said.