ABU DHABI - Russia is battling bureaucracy and waiting for some formalities to be completed before it delivers 60 military helicopters to India, the head of state-owned giant Rostec said on Monday.

India and Russia signed an agreement in 2016 to jointly manufacture 200 KA-226T helicopters for the Indian Armed Forces.

According to the agreement, 60 helicopters were to be delivered in 2019 and the remaining 140 to be assembled or manufactured in India.

"If we manage to complete all formalities" we can deliver Chief Executive Sergey Chemezov told Reuters at the IDEX military exhibition in Abu Dhabi.

"Unfortunately there’s so much of bureaucracy in Russia and India."

The production of helicopters in India could "possibly" be done by end 2019, he said.

(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)