India has asked Russia to fast-track approvals for Indian exporters –including expedited listing of domestic establishments and quicker registration of marine and pharmaceutical products — as part of a broader push to expand two-way trade, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal, currently in Moscow, stressed the need for “confidence-building measures to unlock market access” during discussions with Russian officials at the 26th Meeting of the India-Russia Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation, reported ET.“The issues included expedited listing of Indian establishments and a systems-based approach with FSVPS in agriculture, especially marine products and a time-bound pathway in pharmaceuticals covering registration, regulatory reliance and predictable timelines,” the official statement said, quoted ET. FSVPS is Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision.Agrawal and Russian deputy minister of economic development Vladimir Ilyichev finalised and signed a forward-looking protocol covering multiple sectors aimed at strengthening economic ties. Bilateral trade currently stands at $25 billion, with both sides committed to raising it to $100 billion by 2030.The working group identified opportunities across engineering goods, chemicals and plastics, electronics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, leather and textiles. It also mapped areas where Indian strengths –including smartphones, motor vehicles, gems and jewellery, organic chemicals, textiles and leather — can support Russia’s trade diversification and de-risking strategy.In services, India encouraged Russian entities to increase procurement of Indian IT-BPM, healthcare, education and creative services. It also pushed for predictable mobility for Indian professionals amid growing labour shortages in Russia.India highlighted its global capability centre (GCC) ecosystem — over 1,700 centres employing nearly 1.9 million professionals — as a ready platform for Russian firms to enhance business continuity, cybersecurity, design, analytics and shared-services support, bolstering supply-chain resilience.The Indian side acknowledged Russia’s interest in concluding a bilateral investment treaty. Both countries also agreed to “explore payments solutions to meet the needs for businesses, especially medium, small and micro enterprises,” the ministry said.The engagement comes ahead of intensified bilateral activity, with Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled to visit India on December 5 for the Russia-India Forum.

A cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) cost it nearly £200m, the company has announced.

The UK’s largest car manufacturer said it has “made strong progress” in recovering its operations at pace since the attack.

JLR stopped production across its UK factories for five weeks from 1 September after being targeted by hackers a day earlier.

All of the group’s manufacturing sites – including factories in Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside – restarted operations last month.

JLR has revealed it swung to an underlying loss of £485m over the second quarter of the year as earnings were knocked following a severe cyber attack.

The British luxury carmaker had made a profit before tax and exceptional items of nearly £400m over the same period in 2024.

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It also reported a £134m loss for the six months to the end of September, from a £1.1bn profit the prior year.

JLR’s chief executive Adrian Mardell said the company’s financial performance was “impacted by significant challenges, including a cyber incident that stopped our vehicle production in September and the impact of US tariffs”.

The manufacturer revealed costs of £196m relating to the cyber attack.

The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover is thought to have been the UK’s most economically damaging hack and is estimated to have cost the country £1.9bn.

Research from the Cyber Monitoring Centre indicates that around 5,000 businesses nationwide have been hit by the fallout.

Its experts analysed the incident’s broad impact across the economy and supply chain to arrive at the figure.

Jaguar Land Rover halted production at its UK factories for five weeks from 1 September after being targeted the previous day.

This disruption led to warnings from suppliers that many faced collapse without rapid trading resumption or financial aid.

Jaguar Land Rover has plunged to a heavy loss after booking almost £200 million in costs linked to a major cyber attack which saw the firm shut its factories for more than a month.

The UK’s largest car manufacturer said it has “made strong progress” in recovering its operations at pace since the attack.

JLR stopped production across its UK factories for five weeks from September 1 after being targeted by hackers a day earlier.

All of the group’s manufacturing sites – including factories in Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside – restarted operations last month.

However, it saw revenues plummet by more than £1 billion, around 24%, to £4.9 billion for the quarter to September.

It also swung to an underlying loss of £485 million over the quarter, sliding from a profit before tax and exceptional items of nearly £400 million over the same period in 2024.

In the update, it booked £196 million of extra costs linked to the cyber attack and £42 million related to voluntary redundancies.

The company said its performance was also impacted by US tariffs and a planned wind down in the production of previous Jaguar models.