• In the first seven months of 2023, India got the lion’s share with 35% of eight million tonnes of cargo handled by the Murmansk port. India has been showing greater interest regarding the NSR for a variety of reasons: 
• The growth in cargo traffic along the NSR is on the constant rise and during 2018-2022, the growth rate was around 73%. 
• The NSR, as a transit route, assumes importance, given India’s geographical position and the major share of its trade associated with sea transportation. 
• The Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor (CVMC) project, an outcome of signing of the memorandum of intent between the Russa and India in 2019, is being examined as one linking with another organise international container transit through the NSR.
 • The 10,500 km-long CVMC, passing through the Sea of Japan, the South China Sea and Malacca Strait, will bring down transport time to 12 days, almost a third of what is taken under the existing St. Petersburg-Mumbai route of 16,000 km. 
• Experts are discussing the possibility of China and Russia gaining collective influence over the NSR.