Russia’s newly planned Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC) and India’s emphasis on developing multimodal connectivity to strengthen its Eastern ports and maritime infrastructures can open new potential business opportunities between the two countries. TATC and its extension via CVMC can offer broader economic partnerships among BRICS countries.

In March 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new plan to enhance Arctic connectivity. The Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC) aims to connect key Russian ports from St. Petersburg through Murmansk to Vladivostok and link them to Russia’s inland cities and towns via land, rail, sea and inland waterway systems.[1] Domestically, the TATC seeks to enhance Russia’s cargo-handling capacity at key ports by developing digital logistics infrastructure and integrating it with the country’s multimodal transport networks. Internationally, TATC aims to connect the world’s industrial, agricultural and energy centres with consumer markets, particularly in Asia, via shorter, safer and more cost-effective routes.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR), which earlier was emerging as a shorter alternative route for enabling maritime connectivity between Asian and European ports via the Arctic, would now become a ‘key section’ of this larger, more comprehensive TATC. In the past, India and Russia have shown interest in joint development of the NSR and the Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC), also known as the Chennai–Vladivostok Maritime Corridor (CVMC).[2] This brief argues that the development of Russia’s TATC and its further extension to Asia, particularly India, offer tremendous new business opportunities for both India and Russia, thereby strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor: An Overview

The proposed TATC is Moscow’s new comprehensive connectivity development project aimed at enhancing connectivity in the Russian Arctic. Russian experts argue that, as a result of rising Russian hydrocarbon and mineral exports, cargo flows along the NSR are expected to reach around 109 million tons by 2030.[3] These estimates could further increase due to growing uncertainties in West Asia. To benefit from emerging opportunities, policymakers in Russia believe there is a need to strengthen and expand multimodal transport connectivity networks within Russia and link them to emerging maritime routes in the Russian Arctic and beyond. The newly proposed TATC, therefore, aims to link Russia’s domestic railway network from its northwestern regions to its Far East, with ports along the NSR and the country’s inland waterways. Through TATC, Russia seeks to enhance its overall cargo-handling capacity by interlinking the country’s inland rivers—the Lena, Yenisei and Ob—with Arctic ports along the NSR via existing and new road and railway networks, to enable faster, more efficient logistics supply chains in the future.

Russia has outlined the ports of Ust-Luga, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Dudinka, Sabetta, Tiksi, Pevek and Vladivostok for developing these as key transport hubs along the NSR.[4] The main objective of the TATC is to enable a more economical, shorter and safer transit shipping route between Europe and Asia, providing uninterrupted access to Southeast Asia, India, the Persian Gulf and Africa. Emphasis on enabling and ensuring year-round navigation has been outlined as a key component of this new project, with the development of Russia’s nuclear icebreaker fleet and the modernisation of port infrastructure as priority areas on the Russian state agenda. Lastly, there are plans to integrate other international transport corridors, such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), with TATC to further enhance connectivity with Asian countries.

Prospective Areas for Enhancing India–Russia Cooperation

Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Facilities

President Putin has emphasised that to enhance shipping via the NSR and encourage countries to use the TATC, it is necessary to provide affordable shipping and icebreaker support services for cargoes transiting via NSR, so that overall transit costs do not increase drastically. To do so, the Russian president has called not only for strengthening domestic shipbuilding and developing cutting-edge high-technology shipyards in Russia, but also for partnering with like-minded partners.[5] Russian assessments suggest that demand for ship repair services would also increase significantly as a result of increased cargo shipping via TATC. Therefore, to meet the rising demand for ship repairs, the Russian government plans to more than double its ship-repair capacity along the NSR.[6] Further, Russia is also seeking partnerships with like-minded countries and international shipping companies that have merchant fleets capable of transporting petroleum products and liquefied natural gas using TATC.[7]

The Government of India in March 2026 allocated Rs 70,000 crore for shipbuilding, shipbreaking, maintenance and overhauling under the ‘Make in India’ initiative.[8] Such initiatives would align with each country’s national interests and offer a win-win outcome for both in the near future. Russia’s growing demand for new ship construction and its emerging requirements for ship repairs offer tremendous high-value business opportunities for Indian shipbuilding and ship repair companies.

In the past, Russia has placed orders with Indian shipbuilding companies to build 24 river-sea-class ships.[9] There were even reports of advanced discussions from the Russian side with India’s Cochin Shipyard (CSL) and Reliance Naval and Engineering for the construction of four new non-nuclear-powered icebreakers for the Russian state atomic energy company Rosatom.[10] Despite the significant business potential and complementary interests in the shipbuilding sector, progress on these projects has been slow due to global........

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