Russia’s largest bank is betting big on deeper India-Russia economic ties. Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank discusses the bank’s expanding India strategy, faster cross-border payments and its ambition to build a comprehensive platform for businesses in both countries in an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor - Business Today. Gref says Sberbank could handle more than 15% of India-Russia trade this year, while also focusing on bringing more Indian exports into the Russian market. The bank is looking at infrastructure, SME connectivity and inv...
What Herman Gref said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank, discussed the bank's role in facilitating India-Russia trade at the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi. He said Sberbank has built infrastructure enabling financial transactions between the countries in minutes, and expects to serve more than 15% of Russian-Indian trade this year. Gref outlined priorities: enabling Russian individual investors to access Indian stock markets (a new instrument launched this year), addressing the trade imbalance (Russian surplus around $50 billion) by promoting Indian exports to Russia, and supporting Russian companies investing in India. He also mentioned plans for technology partnerships in transactional services, healthcare, and education, leveraging AI and digital technologies. Regarding currency risks and sanctions, he stated Sberbank avoids USD and euro settlements, using only national currencies, and is building a platform to connect Indian producers with Russian marketplaces.
Key takeaways
Sberbank expects to handle more than 15% of Russia-India trade this year, up from prior difficulties in financial transactions.
Sberbank has launched a first instrument for Russian individual investors to invest in the Indian stock market.
Russia's trade surplus with India is around $50 billion, a disbalance Sberbank aims to correct by boosting Indian exports to Russia.
Sberbank uses only national currencies (no USD or euro) in settlements, reducing sanctions risk for participants.
Sberbank plans to build a platform to connect Indian producers with Russian marketplaces within one to two years.
Numbers and commitments
Figure
What it refers to
Type
At
15%
Share of Russia-India trade Sberbank expects to serve this year
0:00Can you tell us about the significance of the evolving India-Russia trade and what your bank is doing to take it forward?
3:03Can I ask you to give our viewers a sense of which will be the priority sectors in which Sberbank would facilitate investment from Russia into India?
5:32Gref, do you see India and Indian companies becoming a major technological partner of your financial institution in the future?
Hello and welcome to our coverage of the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi. Economic independence and trade relations are one of the key cornerstone focuses of this summit and we have now with us Herman Gref, the CEO and chairman of the executive board at Sberbank. Mr. Gref, welcome to this conversation. Clearly this is a very, very important summit but given the importance of continuing trade and commercial ties between India and Russia and you are Russia's largest financial institution. Can you tell us about the significance of the evolving India-Russia trade and what your bank is doing to take it forward?
Thank you very much for inviting me for this interview. And I could say that it's a very important period of time for us also because it's not only the summit between the leaders, it's also a big opportunity to bring together the business leaders. And if you look at our activities in the Indian market, we in the last years first line in the creation of very convenient infrastructure for financial services between the countries and we made very good progress on that. And a few years before it was a lot of difficulties. Now the transactions, the financial transactions between the countries, we can do in a few minutes. And if you look at our branch here, it's the biggest financial institution for the Russian-Indian business relations and this year I hope that we will serve more than 15% of the Russian-Indian trade and we would like to build the next steps. It would be building the platform, the comprehensive platform for the businesses in two countries. It's not only the financial institution but also the largest technological company in our country and we would like to bring more technological things for the convenience of the businesses from both sides.
Mr. Gref, your bank has shown interest in investing in Indian infrastructure projects. Can I ask you to give our viewers a sense of which will be the priority sectors in which Sberbank would facilitate investment from Russia into India?
If you speak about our priority as a financial institution, our priority is to build the first-class financial infrastructure for Russian and Indian corporations but also for the individuals. This year we built the first instrument for the Russian individual investors to invest in the Indian stock market and it was successful. It is the first experience and we would like to understand the results by the end of the year but I think it's a good opportunity. Now we have a disbalance and the balance should be in the trade between the countries. The Russian surplus is around 50 billion USD and the second priority is to bring more Indian export into the Russian market and we concentrate ourselves to find the right goods, right services in the Indian market and bring the companies who create these services and goods to the Russian market. I think there are a lot of opportunities in the different areas and we would like to support these companies in the Russian market. And the third priority is to build the bridge and support, financial support, the largest Russian companies who will invest and organize the business into the Indian market. This is a few words about our priorities for the next two, three years.
I understand that. I have one final question before I let you go and this is the possibility of future technology partnerships. Your bank has a major information technology presence in Bengaluru in South India. Mr. Gref, do you see India and Indian companies becoming a major technological partner of your financial institution in the future?
5 more exchanges in this transcript
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Gref, H. (2026, September 11). Sberbank CEO Herman Gref: Sberbank Could Handle More Than 15% Of India-Russia Trade This Year [Interview transcript]. Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1349235/
MLA
Herman Gref. "Sberbank CEO Herman Gref: Sberbank Could Handle More Than 15% Of India-Russia Trade This Year." Business Today, 11 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1349235/.
BibTeX
@misc{gref2026_1349235,
author = {Herman Gref},
title = {Sberbank CEO Herman Gref: Sberbank Could Handle More Than 15\% Of India-Russia Trade This Year},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Business Today. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1349235/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
