bne IntelliNews -

Russia's state-owned nuclear power operator Rosatom will supply 12 nuclear power blocks to India over the next 20 years, according to an agreement signed at a Russia-India summit in New Delhi on December 11 that was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. 

At the signing of a landmark 'vision' document on Russia-Indian nuclear power co-operation, Putin said that the number of nuclear reactors supplied by Russia to India could rise to over 20.

The agreement took Rosatom's order book to over $100bn of orders, or 27 units, to be implemented over the next 10 years, said Rosatom;s head, former Russian prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko,  up from $74bn at the end of 2013. Rosatom has recently also landed deals to supply reactors to Hungary and Finland.

Russia has already built the Kudankulam power station in India's Tamil Nadu province, supplying one reactor to the plant, with a second reactor to come onstream in 2015. Indian officials have said Russia will supply a total of six reactors to the site, and a further six reactors to an as yet unspecified site.

In other deals signed at the summit, India agreed to assemble 400 Russian multi-role helicopters a year, as part of an upgrade of India's military.  "Even if India's options have increased, Russia remains our most important defence partner," Modi told journalists

Russia's largest oil company, state-owned Rosneft, signed a deal to supply 200,000 barrels per day of crude to India's Essar fuel corporation for 10 years, close to 10% of Rosneft’s annual non-CIS crude exports, according to UralSib analysts.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a state-funded private equity outfit, also signed to invest $1bn, jointly with India's infrastructure investor IDFC, in hydroelectric projects in India involving Russia's state hydroelectric company Rosgidro.

"For a man who dislikes international travel Putin is putting in the air miles. (...) He has "done" Turkey, China and now India in recent months, (...)  and is really trying to cosy up and do deals with any major non-aligned state, or those which don't fall directly in the US' strategic umbrella," writes Standard Bank analyst Tim Ash.