Machines belong: Robot manufacturers can reduce income tax
Robot manufacturers can reduce income tax to 3% instead of the standard 25%, and companies that introduce devices into production can be given interest-free installments for their purchase. Such measures are being worked out in the State Duma, Izvestia has learned. Earlier, the relevant departments were instructed to prepare measures to support domestic robotics following a meeting with Deputy head of the Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin. Given the shortage of personnel and economic pressure, the country needs to increase production efficiency, and robotics can help with this, experts say.
What kind of government support can robot manufacturers receive?
Russia is preparing measures to support domestic robotics. The State Duma is working on benefits for manufacturers and for companies that put them into operation at enterprises. This was told to Izvestia by Stanislav Naumov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy.
— Industrial robotization is one of the strategically important directions for the development of our country. Among the measures that are currently being worked out in the State Duma with the participation of the expert community are a number of benefits for manufacturers of robots, as well as for companies introducing them into production," he said.
Among the possible measures to support the industry is the provision of interest—free installments for the purchase of robotics, in which the interest rate will be covered by a special state subsidy. Manufacturers may also be offered a reduced income tax rate of 3% instead of the standard 25%, Stanislav Naumov noted. According to him, after expert consideration in the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, the package of initiatives may be sent to the government for consideration in the coming months.
The fact that robot manufacturers should work out support measures is stated in the minutes of the meeting with Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. The official instructed relevant departments to evaluate the possibility of strengthening robotics in key industries, as well as the introduction of benefits similar to the IT sector.
— Today, IT companies that have received state accreditation from the Ministry of Digital Economy enjoy significant tax preferences that are not available to manufacturers and integrators of robots, such as benefits for insurance premiums, taxes, and hiring specialists. If such measures, as well as those that are being worked out in the State Duma, are implemented for robotics, then this will certainly give an impetus to the development of the industry at an accelerated pace. Especially considering that today in Russia there are already a number of other support measures for the industry," Dmitry Tortev, a member of the expert council of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of Competition, explained to Izvestia.
Currently, within the framework of the national project "Means of Production and Automation", grants from the Innovation Promotion Fund for Small Enterprises are being issued to businesses, there are also subsidies to customers for R&D and compensation to manufacturers of industrial robots for discounts provided to customers. There is an industrial cashback for consumers, which allows them to receive compensation in the amount of up to 20% of the cost of implementing and equipping equipment.
In 2024, the level of robotics in Russia reached 29 robots per 10,000 people, Anton Alikhanov, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, reported earlier. One of the highest levels of robotization of the economy is traditionally recorded in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, in South Korea this figure exceeds 1.1 thousand robots per 10 thousand people, he noted. According to the presidential decree, Russia plans to increase this figure to 145 robots by 2030.
— Given the shortage of workers in manufacturing enterprises, the issue of the introduction of industrial robotics is particularly acute for the industry as a whole. Taking into account the specifics of production processes, the automotive industry, metallurgy, chemical and food industries have the greatest potential, as well as the greatest need for robotics in Russia," the Ministry of Industry and Trade told Izvestia.
Today, 4,348 robots have been introduced in the automotive industry, 3,069 in the chemical industry, 3,068 in metallurgy, and 2,679 in the food industry, the ministry said. These statistics clearly demonstrate that these areas have not only potential, but also real, growing dynamics of automation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade emphasized.
What effect does robotics have for production?
The robotization of the Russian industry has become especially relevant in the context of external economic pressure and a shortage of personnel in a number of industries — the state needs to look for tools to increase production efficiency, Dmitry Tortev noted.
The Russian economy will face a serious shortage of workers in the near future, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with members of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions in April 2025. The Head of State noted that in such conditions it is very important to increase labor productivity.
One industrial robot provides an enterprise with savings of up to 1.6 million rubles per year by reducing personnel costs, defects and downtime, with an average payback period of two and a half to four years in logistics and up to six years in mechanical engineering, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
If the Russian fleet of robots grows to at least 100,000 units by 2030, which is exactly what the government is focusing on, then the effect of their introduction could amount to hundreds of billions of rubles in annual cost reductions, Vladimir Chernov noted.
"The greatest potential for the introduction of robots is observed in those industries where processes are already clearly regulated and automated, for example, on assembly lines and warehouses," Alexander Panov, director of the Laboratory of Cognitive AI Systems at the AI Institute and the Center for Cognitive Modeling at MIPT, told Izvestia.
This is confirmed, for example, by the experience of Japan, China and other countries where such solutions are widely used, especially in the automotive and electronics industries, the specialist said.
"The problem of staff shortage, which the entire industry faced a few years ago, pushed us to automate in—house logistics," the press service of the Gorky Automobile Plant told Izvestia.
The company's smart transporters operate on 50 routes in the workshops, delivering over 650 types of components to the conveyors.
Severstal's robotics program is aimed at reducing labor costs, increasing labor productivity and eliminating injury risks. In 2025, 16 new projects in the field of industrial robotics were launched, which are planned to be implemented on sites by the end of 2026, the company told Izvestia. To increase productivity, a robot for remote control of cranes is used there — it alone can replace several machinists, operating cranes at the same time.
Automation allows you to redistribute labor and free employees from routine, monotonous and dangerous operations, transferring them to more intelligent and responsible tasks. At the same time, robotics technologies are getting cheaper, and it turns out that if earlier projects with robots had a payback period of three to five years, now we are increasingly seeing this indicator at the level of 1-1.5 years," Rostec told Izvestia.
As a result, this process becomes more economically attractive for enterprises, the state corporation added.
Just like artificial intelligence, robotics does not increase production efficiency instantly, but gradually, but it will make it easier to increase production and strengthen positions in target industries in global markets in the future, says Leonid Delitsyn, analyst at Finam.
At the same time, according to Stanislav Naumov, in addition to introducing new benefits, it is also advisable to tighten government procurement requirements in terms of reducing purchases of products that do not use robotics, which will speed up the process of introducing new technologies.
Against the background of the demographic pit and the real shortage of working professions, robotization is obviously necessary for the country, but the main question remains how quickly enterprises will be able to integrate it into their operational models and how possible social tensions will be leveled, said Elena Witchak, professor of business practice at the Skolkovo School of Management.
McKinsey researchers reported in their November 2025 report that AI and robots could "take over" 57% of jobs in the United States. The consulting company analyzed more than 900 types of professional activities and found that most roles consist of 30-60% of tasks that can be partially or fully automated.
For Russia, robotization is not a threat to employment, but a strategic way to overcome the structural personnel crisis and a chance to increase competitiveness on the world stage, said Alexey Nezhivoy, head of the operational headquarters of the Independent Trade Union Novy Trud.
According to the expert, digitalization will inevitably change the labor market itself: robots, artificial intelligence and platforms will take over routine operations. However, the functions of management, development, maintenance and creative tasks will remain for a person — the era of classical labor relations with a constant schedule and one employer will gradually give way to flexible, including platform-based employment. In such a system, a new legal framework is critically important — social guarantees in the new system should be at least not lower, but, ideally, higher than the current ones, concluded Alexey Nezhivoy.
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