India and Russia Expand Technology Partnership With Four Agreements at INNOPROM India

India and Russia have taken a significant step towards broadening their technology partnership beyond traditional areas such as defence, energy and heavy industry, with four agreements signed at INNOPROM India 2026 in New Delhi on September 11 covering artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, healthcare technology, electronics and investment.

The agreements were concluded by the Indo Russia ‘Innopraktika’ Technology Hub, which works to connect companies, research institutions and technology organisations from the two countries.

The most ambitious of the four is an agreement to establish an India–Russia Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity in partnership with the Government of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region and RUSSOFT, the association representing Russian software companies.

Joint Centre for AI and Cybersecurity

The proposed centre is intended to provide a permanent platform for Indian and Russian companies, researchers and academic institutions to work together on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

It will be hosted through Gorky Tech, a technology organisation based in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

One of its priorities will be helping Indian and Russian micro, small and medium enterprises find technology partners, develop joint projects and take products into each other’s markets.

Another element is an AI Sandbox, where technologies could be tested and benchmarked before commercial deployment. The framework is expected to examine areas such as AI governance, compliance, risk assessment and validation of new systems.

Academic cooperation is also planned, with institutions including IIT Gandhinagar identified for possible student and faculty exchanges, joint research and knowledge-sharing programmes.

The initiative is notable because it moves India–Russia technology cooperation towards joint development rather than simply the purchase or supply of finished systems.

RDIF and Panorama Target Cross-Border Technology Investment

A second agreement brings together the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Indian electronics company Panorama Electronics and the Indo Russia Innopraktika Technology Hub.

The partnership is designed to help Russian high-technology companies enter India while also providing Indian companies with routes into the Russian market.

Priority sectors include artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, data analytics, medical devices, diagnostics and digital healthcare.

The partners will also examine opportunities in cybersecurity, IT infrastructure, industrial digitalisation and smart infrastructure.

RDIF is expected to bring investment expertise and access to Russian companies, while Panorama will provide technology and commercial support in India. The Innopraktika Technology Hub will coordinate between the two ecosystems.

NexTouch Plans Indian Joint Venture

The third agreement involves Russian technology company NEX-T, or NexTouch, and envisages the establishment of a joint venture in India.

The proposed company would market and supply NexTouch equipment in the country while also seeking participation in government and institutional projects.

The agreement is particularly relevant to the emerging India–Russia effort to build more technology products locally rather than relying solely on imports.

The Innopraktika Technology Hub has previously highlighted NexTouch interactive panels as part of a broader technology stack being developed around Indian manufacturing and technological self-reliance.

Russian Medical AI Comes Into Focus

The fourth agreement has been signed with SberMedAI, the healthcare artificial-intelligence arm associated with Russia’s Sber ecosystem.

It establishes a framework for cooperation in the application of AI and information technology to healthcare, including areas such as medical diagnostics and clinical decision support.

Specific products, deployment programmes and commercial terms will be determined through subsequent agreements, meaning the current pact should be seen as the foundation for future projects rather than an immediate large-scale deployment.

Sber has also been using INNOPROM India to demonstrate other AI-based healthcare technologies, including its GigaDoc system.

India–Russia Technology Relationship Broadens

The four agreements come as New Delhi and Moscow seek to diversify a bilateral economic relationship that has become heavily weighted towards energy and commodities.

At INNOPROM India, both sides have emphasised advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, aviation, space, artificial intelligence, industrial equipment and investment as areas where cooperation could expand.

India and Russia have set a goal of taking bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, while India is also seeking to increase its exports and investment presence in Russia to address the imbalance created by large energy imports.

The first INNOPROM India, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from September 9 to 11, has provided a dedicated industrial platform for that effort.

The planned AI and Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence is particularly significant because it gives India–Russia cooperation an institutional base in a field that is becoming central to economic and strategic competition.

Combined with investment facilitation, healthcare AI and plans for local technology manufacturing, the four agreements indicate that the two countries are attempting to build a broader technology relationship around joint research, localisation and commercial development, rather than limiting cooperation to their established defence and energy sectors.

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