New Delhi [India], September 11 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday shared a car ride to the INNOPROM exhibition at Bharat Mandapam after their bilateral meeting in New Delhi, with the Russian President set to address the BRICS Business Forum later in the day.

Earlier, during their bilateral talks, PM Modi gifted Putin a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, the classical Tamil scripture composed by the weaver-saint Thiruvalluvar.

'Two thousand years ago, Thiruvalluvar wrote the Thirukkural. It includes the entire gamut of human life. It has been translated into the Russian language. I am confident that the people-to-people contact will increase with the translation of the Thirukkural into Russian, which will play a big role in strengthening our relations,' PM Modi told Putin.

In a subsequent post on X, PM Modi wrote, 'Presented President Putin with a Russian translation of the Thirukkural, which carries the eternal wisdom of the great Thiruvalluvar across languages and borders.'

The Thirukkural consists of 1,330 couplets (kurals), each just two lines long, and rests on universal values: aram (virtue), porul (wealth and statecraft) and inbam (love). The text is revered by Tamils as a sacred scripture and is often called "the Tamil Veda".

Putin arrived in New Delhi earlier on Friday ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, which India is hosting on September 12-13. He was welcomed upon arrival by Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh.

According to sources, an ambitious bilateral trade target was among the discussions between PM Modi and Putin, with the two countries aiming to take bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.

Sources said the success of INNOPROM in India was also on the agenda of the discussion between Putin and PM Modi.

Bringing INNOPROM to India has paved the way for expanding industrial cooperation with Russia, more collaboration in the rail sector and tunnelling, developing the steel value chain, creating more B2B opportunities and broadening access to the Russian market.

INNOPROM- the International Industrial Exhibition is a global platform that brings together manufacturers and buyers from around the world. It provides an opportunity to showcase cutting-edge technologies, access the international market, and serve as an effective B2B platform for productive networking.

India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13. India's Chairship is guided by the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability", with development, sustainability and innovation forming key areas of focus.

BRICS has emerged as an important platform for coordination among major emerging economies and for advancing the interests of the Global South in multilateral institutions. Its agenda covers development, finance, technology, trade and people-to-people exchanges.

The grouping currently comprises 11 countries, i.e. Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE.

Collectively, the BRICS members account for around 49.5 per cent of the global population, 40 per cent of global GDP and 26 per cent of global trade, according to background information on India's 2026 Chairship.

India's BRICS Chairship comes amid global economic fragmentation, technological disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change and resource pressures.

For India, the 2026 Chairship is focused on translating the expanded representation of BRICS into meaningful cooperation and tangible outcomes, while building consensus among its diverse members and strengthening the effectiveness of existing mechanisms. (ANI)