India's prime minister is expected to promote deals for Russian nuclear reactors and military helicopters worth billions of dollars on a trip to Moscow, attracted by promises to transfer technology that Western nations have been slow to make.

Russia and India will manufacture 200 Kamov-226T helicopters in a joint venture, a Russian and an Indian government official said, in the first big step for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign to build a domestic industrial base and reduce the military's dependence on imports.

Modi, who heads for Moscow on Wednesday, will offer Russia a site in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh to build six nuclear reactors of 1,200 megawatts each, the same sources added.