Russia-Ukraine crisis: Government sets up trade helpdesk, meet stakeholders on Monday

The commerce and industry ministry on Friday setup a helpdesk to monitor the status and related difficulties being faced by stakeholders on Russia-Ukraine trade related issues. It will also meet the exporters, importers and other trade stakeholders concerned on Monday.

“Department of Commerce/DGFT has operationalised a helpdesk to support and seek suitable resolutions to issues related to India's international trade in this regard with immediate effect,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a trade notice.

The status of the matter can be tracked using the status tracker under the DGFT helpdesk services, it said.


The helpdesk has been setup a day after Russia launched special military operations in Ukraine.

Japanese financial services firm Nomura said that a sustained rise in oil and food prices would have adverse impacts on Asia’s economies, manifested through higher inflation, weaker current account and fiscal balances, and a squeeze on economic growth.

“In such a scenario, India, Thailand and the Philippines are the biggest losers,” it said in a report on Friday.

It added that India would be adversely impacted by rising oil prices, given its status as a net oil importer.

“We estimate every 10% increase in oil prices would shave off ~0.20 pp (percentage points) from GDP growth,”
Nomura said.

This could add to growth uncertainties, as India navigates an uneven recovery , and counters near-term tailwinds like higher public capex, services normalisation and easy financial conditions, adding downside risks to our GDP growth projection of 7.8% y-o-y in FY23 from 8.7% in FY22.

India’s bilateral trade with Russia in 2020-21 was $8.1 billion. Indian exports were $2.6 billion while imports from Russia were $5.48 billion. With Ukraine, the bilateral trade was $2.59 billion in FY21.