Since the reign of
Emperor Alexander III, Nizhny Novgorod has become the centre of all-Russian merchants. On 15 July 1822 the largest
Nizhny Novgorod fair was solemnly opened on the left bank of the
Oka. Then Nizhny Novgorod became the main city of all-Russian and international trade. In 1929, the Fair was closed, and the city's economy began to develop in a completely different direction. The Soviet city of Gorky became one of the largest industrial centres in Russia, the leading role in which belonged to the enterprises of mechanical engineering, metalworking and information technology. At the same time, the first auto giant, the
Gorky Automobile Plant, was built. The very foundation of the city at the confluence of two navigable rivers predetermined both its military-strategic and commercial significance. Local merchants traded not only with Moscow, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Astrakhan, but also with the cities of Europe and Central Asia. In May 1767, during the royal visit of
Empress Catherine II, she ordered the creation of a new enterprise, the Nizhny Novgorod Trading Company. The main factor in the formation of Nizhny Novgorod as the main trading centre of
Russia at the beginning of the 19th century was the transfer here in 1817 of the
Makariev Fair. At the stage before 1822, the Cathedral of the Savior was built according to the project of
Auguste de Montferrand, 3 administrative, 4 "Chinese" wooden and 56 brick buildings with thousands of shops, hotels, taverns and a summer theatre. For the first time in
Europe, sewerage was provided here. At the second stage, the complex of the Cathedral of the Savior was completed, a mosque and an
Armenian-Gregorian church were built. The third stage marked a strict rectangular redevelopment of the fair with the paving of all streets, the creation of a number of new places of worship, including the
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a three-story commercial building, called the Persian Caravanserai, was erected near the mosque. The fourth stage was the last in a series of reconstructions and included: the construction of the stone circus of the Nikitin brothers, the Brazilian passage on theatre Square, the new Main Fair House in the Russian style, which became one of the largest passages of the Russian Empire. It took first place among Russian cities and 109th in the world in terms of quality of life. The rating was compiled by the website numbeo.com, which specializes in statistics on the cost of living and consumer prices in different countries of the world. When compiling the rating, the purchasing power of the population, safety, health care, the cost of living, the ratio of real estate prices and incomes of the population, traffic congestion, the level of environmental pollution, and climate were taken into account. In 2022, the average nominal salary in Nizhny Novgorod, according to
Federal State Statistics Service, was 45,795 rubles.
Information technology Nizhny Novgorod is one of the centres of the IT industry in Russia. It ranks among the leading Russian cities in terms of the quantity of software
R&D providers.
Intel has a big software research and development centre with more than 500 engineers in the city, as well as a major data centre. In 2022 Intel suspended business operations in Nizhny Novgorod. In Nizhny Novgorod, there are also a number of
offshore outsourcing software developers, including Bell Integrator, Itseez, Tecom, Luximax Systems Ltd, MERA, RealEast Networks, Auriga, SoftDrom and Teleca, as well as many other smaller companies specialising in the delivery of services to telecommunication vendors. There are 25 scientific R&D institutions focusing on telecommunications, radio technology, theoretical and applied physics, and 33 higher educational institutions, among them are
Nizhny Novgorod State University,
Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University,
Privolzhsky Research Medical University, as well as Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Information Technologies, that focuses on information technologies, software development, system administration, telecommunications, cellular networks, Internet technologies, and IT management. Nizhny Novgorod has also been chosen as one of four sites for building an IT-oriented technology park – a special zone that has an established infrastructure and enjoys a favourable tax and customs policy.
Engineering industry Engineering is the leading industry of Nizhny Novgorod's economy with transportation – the auto industry, shipbuilding, diesel engines, aircraft manufacture, and machine tools – predominating; the auto industry being the leading sector (50%). Some of the largest plants include: •
JSC Gorky Automobile Plant – personal cars, trucks, armored personnel carriers, and other autos • JSC
Krasnoye Sormovo – river and sea ships, submarines • JSC
Sokol – planes, jets •
PJSC Nizhny Novgorod Machine-building Plant – armament, artillery, howitzers, anti-tank guns, oil and gas fittings • JSC
Hydromash – hydraulic actuators, landing gear • JSC
Nitel – TV sets • JSC
RUMO – diesel generators • JSC Krasny yakor – anchor chains •
OKBM Afrikantov – nuclear reactors ==Transportation==