Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Friday on the margins of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, according to an official readout from the Prime Minister's Office.
This was their second meeting this year, following talks in Bishkek on the sidelines of the 26th SCO Summit on August 31, 2026.
Putin had arrived in the capital earlier in the day and was welcomed upon arrival by Union Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh.
The Thirukkural gift
During the 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.
The Thirukkural consists of 1,330 couplets, each two lines long, structured around three universal values — aram (virtue), porul (wealth and statecraft), and inbam (love). Revered by Tamils as a sacred scripture, it is often referred to as "the Tamil Veda".
What the two leaders discussed
According to the PMO, Modi and Putin reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation across political, economic, defence, energy, space, skill mobility and people-to-people domains. They welcomed Russia's International Industrial Exhibition "INNOPROM India", held for the first time in India from September 9-11, and underscored its importance in expanding trade and industrial ties between the two countries. The two leaders also visited the INNOPROM India exhibition together and interacted with participants.
