Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of Make in India campaign Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of Make in India campaign

Jumping on to the Make in India bandwagon, old ally Russia has put forward a series of joint manufacturing projects to New Delhi, proposing to manufacture helicopters, airliners and satellite navigation systems, besides setting up a multi-billion dollar start up fund to promote nano technology.

A slew of projects have been discussed at the top level during the recent visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, all aimed at going beyond the tradition supplier-buyer relationship that made Moscow the largest supplier of defence equipment to India for the past few decades. It has recently been replaced by the US in the past three years.

Sources said that Russia expressed its keenness in participating in the Make in India initiative and a few projects could be concretised during President V Putin's to New Delhi next month. One proposal that will be studied by interest in India is to set up a joint USD 3 billion dollar fund to promote joint start-up companies in the nanotechnology field with applications from defence to aerospace and manufacturing.

It is learnt that the Russian delegation earlier this month included Anatoly Borisovich Chubais, the chief of RUSNAN - a government-owned company working on commercialising nanotechnology. Sources said that Chubais has put forward a proposal that India and Russia equally contribute to the fund that would select and nurture joint companies working in the field.

Another proposal put forward by the Russian side was for the manufacturing of the nation's latest light chopper, the KA 226 in India for both domestic orders as well as world exports. The KA 226, it may be recalled was one of the two choppers technically qualified for the army's requirement of 197 light choppers before the deal was cancelled earlier this year. The Russian side, sources said is keen to manufacture the chopper in India by transferring technology and wants to use India as a base to meet future export orders. A similar project has been proposed for the manufacturing of the MS 21 medium range airliner that is set to take its first flight in 2016 in Russia.

On the space front, Russia has proposed manufacturing of modules and components for its GLONASS satellite navigation system in India. Officials said that a clearer picture on joint projects could emerge during Putin's visit next month where he is expected to make a big pitch for the Make in India initiative.