Russia pans hiring push from India

As Russia looks to hire more workers from India to meet labour shortage in the country, a new report has said that at least 40,000 Indian citizens are expected to come to Russia as workers this year.

The report in www.dw.com says that between 70,000-80,000 Indian citizens were already working in Russia at the end of last year.

In December last year, India and Russia signed two agreements to boost the mobility of Indian semi-skilled and skilled workers to Russia. These are “Temporary Labour Activity of Citizens of one State in the Territory of the other State” and “Cooperation in Combating Irregular Migration”.

The mobility pacts will also provide a framework for employment of Indian workers in Russia and ensure that they do not face difficulties met by Indians who faced various frauds in the recent past.

Recent reports of a young Indian software professional working on the streets of Russia also drew public attention. He was among 17 Indian workers who arrived in St. Petersburg several months ago to address labour shortages in municipal road maintenance.

The workers were reportedly recruited by a Russian road-maintenance firm, Kolomyazhskoye, and relocated to the city for street-cleaning and winter road maintenance duties, according to the report by Russia’s app-based media platform Fontanka.

Labour shortages in parts of Russia have reportedly increased demand for migrant workers in manual and municipal services.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also highlighted recently the strength of India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, pointing out that India has developed the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.

The minister said that India’s young, skilled and committed workforce can help meet Russia’s projected shortfall of three million skilled professionals.

There is a reported demand for at least 5,00,000 semi-skilled workers in Russia, which is one of the factors that is propelling Moscow to reach out to friendly countries.