NEW DELHI, August 26. /TASS/. India’s state gas company GAIL India and Russia’s Gazprom are negotiating gas imports to the South Asian republic, the Indian newspaper Economic Times reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks are in the early stages, the publication said. The cost of imports could be lower than international prices since Russia has surpluses as its exports to Europe have dwindled, according to the report.

Gazprom has likely "proposed to the Indian public sector company that it purchase the fuel from Gazprom Singapore and settle payments in euros in future trades," the paper said.

Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov said earlier Russia was boosting cooperation with India, with supplies of Russian energy sources to the country up ten-fold over the past several months. The prospects of Russia’s cooperation with India are very good, he added.