At least half a dozen executives from top Indian arms makers, including Adani Defence and Bharat Forge attended rare meetings in Russia this year to discuss potential joint ventures, three people familiar with the matter said.
The meetings took place during the first visit of India's defense business leaders to Russia since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The visit by the defense business leaders had not previously been reported. The Indian government is seeking to reorient its decades-old defense ties with Russia toward joint development of weapons.
Any potential collaboration with Russia risks setting back plans by Indian defense firms to jointly develop Western arms as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to make India, one of the world's biggest arms importers, a global manufacturing hub.
Western diplomats have previously said that a key obstacle to the transfer of sensitive military technology to India is its defense ties with Russia and the vast amount of Russian-origin arms used by the Indian military, totalling about 36%.
The talks in Moscow were held on the sidelines of a visit by an Indian defense-industrial delegation on October 29-30, led by India's Defence Production Secretary, Sanjeev Kumar, aimed at laying the groundwork for Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India on December 4-5.
A spokesperson for Adani Group denied that executives from any of its firms attended the meetings. India's defense ministry and the other firms cited by the sources did not respond to requests for comment.
Joint production in India
The meetings discussed the potential for manufacturing of spares for Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jet, and other Russian-origin air defense and weapon systems, as well as a Russian proposal to set up production units in India for development of equipment that could potentially also be exported to Moscow, said two of the sources and another industry executive.
They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
Russia has been India's top arms supplier for decades. During Putin's visit, the two sides said they had agreed to reorient their partnership "to joint research and development, co-development and co-production of advanced defense technology and systems" to support India's self-reliance in defense.
Indian executive in Moscow
A broad delegation of representatives from defense units of Indian conglomerates, state-owned firms, and startups developing drones and artificial intelligence for military use attended the meetings, the sources said.
An executive at Bharat Forge, a unit of engineering conglomerate Kalyani Group that makes components for missiles and artillery guns, attended the meetings as part of efforts to source or jointly develop components for Russian-origin tanks and aircraft, and to explore potential future collaboration on helicopters, two of the sources said.
Adani Defence and Aerospace, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani's apples-to-airports conglomerate Adani Group, was represented by its Chief Executive Ashish Rajvanshi, the sources said.
Also attending was an executive from the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers advisory group, which lists more than 500 arms and military equipment makers as its members, including the defense arms of conglomerates Tata Sons and Larsen & Toubro, and state-owned firms such as Bharat Electronics BAJE.NS.
Sanctions risk
Reuters reported in 2024 that a Bharat Forge subsidiary was among the three Indian firms that exported artillery shells to Europe, some of which were later diverted to Ukraine, resulting in a diplomatic protest from Moscow.
Indian firms, however, would be hesitant about striking new deals with Russia due to the risk of secondary sanctions, an Indian executive said.
While India can use diplomatic outreach and lobbying to offer some protection from sanctions, an Indian defense official said the firms would have to factor in the political risks themselves.