The Industry and Trade Ministry has proposed extending a preferential 7.6% insurance-contribution tariff to all light-industry activity codes in Russia. Minister Anton Alikhanov outlined the proposal at parliamentary hearings on 29 January 2026, according to Interfax. The announcement describes a proposed change, rather than confirming that every light-industry employer can already apply the tariff.
Contribution relief and equipment financing
Interfax reported that the preferential rate was already available to information-technology businesses, radio-electronics companies and manufacturing businesses within the small and medium enterprise segment. The ministry’s initiative would widen the relevant list of activities to cover the full light-industry sector.
Alikhanov said his estimate of the resulting loss of budget revenue, checked with the Federal Tax Service, did not exceed RUB1 billion. That estimate was attributed to the minister; it should not be treated as an independently established final fiscal cost.
The minister also proposed increasing support for equipment leasing. He said demand for the subsidy consistently exceeded the available funding. The stated comparison was between RUB648.5 million in 2026 and a proposed RUB1.5 billion in subsequent years. The higher amount was therefore a funding proposal for later periods, not a reported expenditure already made in January.
The figures in the announcement
- Proposed preferential contribution tariff: 7.6%.
- Minister’s estimate of foregone budget revenue: no more than RUB1 billion.
- Equipment-leasing subsidy funding in 2026: RUB648.5 million.
- Proposed later annual funding level: RUB1.5 billion.
A revised strategy was still being prepared
Alikhanov connected the proposals to a wider revision of the sector’s development strategy. He said the strategy approved in 2020 had set a 50% domestic-market share goal for 2035, while domestic producers were already covering 45% of the market. These market-share figures are the minister’s assessment as reported at the hearing.
He said the updated strategy was due to be approved in the third quarter of 2026, with a main objective of reaching a 65% share of domestic goods by 2036. Both the approval schedule and the market-share objective lay in the future on the publication date.
For businesses following the announcement, its immediate significance is the direction of the proposed support: employment-related contributions and investment in equipment. The report does not provide an enacted eligibility list, an application procedure or a confirmed start date for the expanded tariff. It therefore cannot, on its own, establish a particular company’s entitlement.
The original Interfax report records the minister’s proposals and their stated financial parameters.
