ITEC has been of great advantage in fostering contacts between Indian entrepreneurs and the new generation of Russian decision-makers, whose exposure to Indian management training systems help them benefit from Indian capabilities in the industrial and financial sectors.

ITEC courses which have proved to be most popular are in the fields of banking, entrepreneurship development, small enterprise management and diplomacy. The Russian Foreign Office has taken a keen interest in the programme and repeatedly emphasized the importance of ITEC in bilateral relations. They have also played a major role in bringing this programme to the attention of the many regions and republics which constitute the Russian Federation. Each year, for instance, a young Russian diplomat is sponsored for training at the Foreign Services Institute of the Indian Foreign Ministry in New Delhi. In the year 2001, an officer of the Russian Armed Forces went for a one-year course at the Indian National Defence College, also in New Delhi while Russian journalists have been sent to the Indian Institute of Mass Communications for four-month courses on development journalism. The quality of ITEC courses is considered to be comparable to those offered by developed countries.

In 1998, 50 young Russian managers from different regions were invited by specially chosen Indian management training institutions for studies in the vital spheres of corporate and small industry activity. In earlier years, 142 Russian managers had availed of ITEC courses in finance and investment, banking and entrepreneurial development. RussiaТs ITEC participation over the years has gone up, showing the increasing popularity of the programme:

Because of the enthusiasm and positive response, the Government of India has increased the number of ITEC seats for Russia to 100. The Embassy of India in Moscow interacts with various Russian agencies for working out new directions and courses for widening the ITEC course content and covering as many regions as possible. Study tours are also organized under ITEC in certain cases. These interactions between Russian managers and entrepreneurs and Indian training institutions necessarily serve to add a new dimension to the traditionally strong friendship between India and Russia.

As summer temperatures in India are high, reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius, trainees from Russia are sponsored only for ITEC courses falling between October and April of the following year. For the current year, therefore, the courses on offer will start between October, 2007 and end by April, 2008. The list of courses will be made available by the month of April-May 2007.