Cybersecurity and AI: new growth drivers for Russia and India

Russia and India are fundamentally rethinking their technological cooperation. For Russia, this is a way to scale up the export of digital solutions and address trade imbalance, while for India it is an opportunity to strengthen national cyber defence and give impetus to its AI market.

Joint R&D centres are already operating in the state of Uttar Pradesh, educational programmes are running between Sirius and India’s AIM, and AI pilots are being tested. The potential of the partnership lies in synergy: Russian expertise in data protection is being combined with India’s scale of implementing technology. According to expert estimates, by 2030 the effect of expanding cooperation could bring up to 200 billion dollars in additional annual revenue.

India on the global AI map: market scale and expertise

Source: "Artificial intelligence in India: what’s in store for the market?" (data from HSE ISSEK, Stanford AI Index).

The reasons for more cooperation

This rapprochement is dictated by hard economic pragmatism and a changing global landscape.

1. The imbalance and ’stuck’ rupees problem. The growth in raw material exports has led to the accumulation of significant rupee funds in India. The strategic task is to invest this money in joint technological projects and procure high value-added products.
2. Growth of the Indian market. India is becoming a global IT hub. The country’s AI market is expected to grow 4.5-fold to USD 28 billion by 2030.
3. Course towards technological sovereignty. Both countries are striving for independence from Western vendors. This makes them natural partners in creating sovereign IT systems and protected BRICS circuits.

What has already been done

In 2024–2025, cooperation evolved into practical implementation:

• R&D centres: the Russian—Indian Centre for the Development and Production of Trusted Hardware and Software Complexes has been opened in the technology park in Uttar Pradesh (the Jalaun—Bundelkhand defence corridor). Partners included RUSSOFT, KannInnov, and Infra Limited. According to Tatyana Benua, President of the Association National Artificial Intelligence Foundation, a turning point came with the launch of the BRICS+AI Alliance in 2024 — a platform which Russian and Indian AI companies were among the first to join. This created a springboard for joint projects that are already reaching the level of major government and corporate contracts.
• Cyber exercises: Indian specialists are integrated into Russian training programmes, for example, the international Positive Hack Camp, where young professionals hone their infrastructure-protection skills.
• Coordination: in 2025, a working group and the Indo-Russia Technology Hub were launched (presented at SPIEF). They coordinate projects in AI, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, and they also prepare the ground for solution certification.

Areas where action can be taken right now

1. AI for government procurement and logistics. Indian government structures are automating procurement through platforms like GeM. Russia can offer experience in creating secure high-load systems. In logistics, the feasibility study for modernising the Nagpur—Secunderabad railway section (581 km) for speeds up to 200 km/h is already complete. Implementing AI in managing the North—South Transport Corridor is critically important for expanding cargo flows.
2. Cybersecurity and sovereign IT platforms. The number of cyberattacks is growing (according to Sber, 2025 has seen a threefold increase in incidents). Russia offers proven solutions (DLP, anti-fraud, and critical information infrastructure protection). Sberbank has already put forward an initiative to create a BRICS Cybersecurity Alliance, planned for launch by 2027. Tatyana Benua emphasises that cybersecurity specifically offers the greatest potential for Russian—Indian cooperation: India needs cryptographic protection solutions and big data analysis tools for threat prediction, while Russian companies are among the global leaders in these segments.
3. Financial infrastructure. To address the settlement issue within BRICS, the launch of the BRICS PAY system and the secure Eurasian Quantum Path environment is being discussed. This will create conditions for risk-free transactions and investments in joint ventures.
4. Education and personnel. Currently, more than 30,000 Indian students study in Russia. Benua says that personnel training in information security and AI is becoming critically important: ‘The success of projects depends on whether a common personnel framework is formed in time for new joint ventures’.

Technological and infrastructural cooperation framework (2025–2030):

• Uttar Pradesh (defence corridor): Joint centre for the development of trusted software and hardware (partners: RUSSOFT, KannInnov).
• Nagpur—Secunderabad: Railway line modernisation (581 km) for speeds of 200 km/h (Russian Railways project).
• New Delhi: Headquarters of the future working group and venue for the 2026 summit (discussion of the Cybersecurity Alliance).
• North—South Corridor (NSTC).

Source: Working Group Report (Infrastructure Projects and Notable Dates sections), RUSSOFT dated March 27, 2024

How businesses will benefit from this partnership

• Market access: The opportunity to enter the fast-growing Indian government contract market and the corporate sector (pharmaceuticals, where India is considered the ‘pharmacy of the world’, and resource mining, with its need for extraction digitalisation).
• Localisation (‘Make in India’): Russian companies can localise solutions using Indian preferences and, through India, enter third-country markets (Africa and Southeast Asia). Tatyana Benua adds that success in India is impossible without adaptation: the offering must be ‘tailored not only technically, but also commercially’, and a reliable local integrator is almost a mandatory requirement.
• Risk reduction: Settlements within unified platforms and clearing in national currencies remove the threat of secondary sanctions.

Prospects and next steps

Russia and India are preparing new platforms for frontier technology research, from generative AI (models of the Krutrim/BharatGPT calibre) to quantum communications.

A key step will be the creation of the BRICS Cybersecurity Alliance, which will be discussed at the 2026 summit in India. The goal is to exchange data on threats and protect the digital ecosystems of participants.

Joint centres of expertise (CoE) are considered not only as a bilateral initiative, but also as a foundation for exporting technology packages (off-the-shelf solutions for e-government and security) to countries of the Global South.