The Russian Direct Investment Fund and India’s IDFC agreed on Thursday to invest up to $1 billion in Indian infrastructure projects including in ports, toll roads and hydropower, to deepen economic ties between the two countries. The two investors will each commit up to $500 million under the agreement, which was signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi, RDIF said in a statement. India needs hundreds of billions of dollars in investment if it is to modernise its creaking infrastructure, the poor state of which analysts say hinders the country’s economic development.