Russia Eyes India for Vocational Training to Alleviate Labor Crisis

A member of the board from Russia’s prominent business association urged the nation on Thursday to establish vocational training centers in allied nations such as India to tackle the escalating labor shortage.

Andrei Komarov, affiliated with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, suggested that foreign workers be trained explicitly for positions within the Russian job market during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

He identified India as a “natural partner” for this initiative, referencing its expertise in workforce development and its amicable relations with Moscow.

“India is already engaged in training specialists for other nations and maintains a friendly stance toward us,” said Komarov, who faced U.S. sanctions in 2024.

Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov supported the idea, noting that several countries throughout the former Soviet Union, as well as nations in Africa and Latin America, have shown significant interest in Russia’s vocational education framework and its federal project on professionalism.

Currently, approximately 4 million students are enrolled in Russian vocational colleges, which includes over 32,000 international students from 82 different countries, according to Kravtsov.

There is a prevalent anti-migrant sentiment in Russia, particularly towards laborers from Central Asia who occupy vital positions in industries like construction and agriculture.

The push to develop pipelines for foreign-trained labor arises as the domestic workforce in Russia continues to decline, a situation exacerbated by demographic shifts and the departure of skilled professionals following the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions.

Earlier this year, the Samolyot construction firm initiated a pilot program to hire Indian nationals for projects in Moscow. Company officials praised Indian workers as dependable and more cost-effective than their Central Asian counterparts, highlighting that their employment contracts restrict them from changing jobs.

However, the program has not been particularly successful, as Samolyot COO Alexei Akindinov acknowledged, citing language barriers since many Indian workers do not communicate in Russian.

X5 Group, a major food retailer in Russia and operator of the Pyaterochka and Perekrestok grocery chains, has begun recruiting Indian workers for its distribution centers.

Yekaterina Lobacheva, the company’s president, noted that the project remains in a trial stage due to fundamental language and cultural differences.

In just the past year, more than 4,000 Indian citizens sought employment in St. Petersburg. Indian workers have also been observed in factories in the Kaliningrad region and taking on technical roles at the e-commerce giant Ozon, where they are utilized in warehousing and software development.