Russia presses for 'comfortable business climate' in India

Looking to deepen trade and economic ties with India, Russia today pressed for a "comfortable business climate" in tune with the relation the two nations share.
Asked about how the governments of the two countries were working to resolve outstanding issues, especially in reference to Russian conglomerate Sistema, Russian Trade & Industry Minister Denis Manturov said that certain aspects of business do not reflect on the relations between the leaders.
"For many years we have had very tight friendship between our countries. Certain aspects of business do not reflect on the relations between the leaders and the government cooperation".
"Business is always trying to find the shortest way to reach the goal. This shortest way is not always the best and always have many risks. Ofcourse the government will help ... We need to have a comfortable business climate between our two countries," Manturov told PTI.

Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian arm has recently expressed discomfort on spectrum price. The company urged government to have a rethink on the spectrum price for 800 Mhz band and bring it at par with the market discovered price of 1800 Mhz.
Besides, Russia has also invited Indian companies to participate in its main industrial trade fair Innoprom next year.

"We invited Indian companies to participate in the Innoprom exhibition in 2015 and to be a partner country in the year 2016," Manturov said after a Ficci conference here.
The Innoprom trade fair will be held in Ekaterinburg, Russia between July 8-11, 2015.

Sistema is the largest private Russian company to invest in India. In telecom sector, the company has invested about USD 3.5 billion till date.
The next round of spectrum auction across three bands -- 800 Mhz (CDMA), 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz (both used for GSM services) -- is proposed to be held in February from which government expects to garner minimum of Rs 9,533 crore.
The CDMA base price at Rs 3,646 crore is more than base price fixed by government for November 2012 auction.
In 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled the licences of Sistema Shyam Teleservices' and later was asked to buy spectrum afresh for continuing operations in the country.

Government fixed price of 1.25 Mhz spectrum in CDMA (800 Mhz) band at Rs 4,550 crore for November 2012 auction. At this price, cost of 1 Mhz spectrum comes to Rs 3,640 crore. There was no bidder for the CDMA spectrum in that auction and the industry complained of high base price.