Su-30MKI is absolutely a Russian project. Su-30SM is just the RuAF designation for the Su-30MKI.
The first 18 Su-30K, and 32 Su-30MKI delivered to India were completely Russian manufactured and assembled.
India signed a production license in 2000 to produce 140 Su-30MKI, but they would only produce the engines, aircraft systems and avionics. The fuselage and control surfaces, as well as the BARS radar are all Russian in origin. Assembly is completed in both HAL Nasik for the fuselage kits supplied by Russia, and HAL’s Korput plant for the AL-31FP engines, again built from Russian supplied kits.
In 2007 India requested 18 Russian built Su-30MKI’s from the Irkut factory to replace the Su-30K’s they initially bought. As of 2015, they had assembled 150 kits from Russia, and had 200 total airframes, all originating in manufacture in Russia.
Russia likes to test new ideas on export models as it’s an economical way to test features and refine the design into something more affordable domestically. All the work done on the Su-27MK, Su-30K, Su-30MK, Su-30MKK, Su-30MKM, Su-30MKI(A) led to a refined design that would become the Su-30SM. If you look at the major differences (things like domestically produced landing gear not considered) the major differences between the variants is consumer-selected avionic and electronic gear. Malaysia for example on their MKM have a SAAB assembled LWR and a Thales Damocles pod.
You can read in even greater detail about all of this in Hugh Harkin’s 2016 book: “Sukhoi Su-30 Super-Maneuverable Family”.
Also, theoretical testing of Thrust Vectoring Control (TVC) began in 1983, with bench-testing for a TVC Saturn engine beginning in 1987, and in a working flight model on an Su-27, designated Su-27UB-PS, and given the fuselage color and number “Blue 08” in 1989. The first truly TVC Sukhoi was actually an Su-35 with TVC engines installed, this would later be known as the Su-37 (T10M-11, the test production number).
You can read more about the extensive history of Thrust Vectoring Control in the Sukhoi from Yefim Gordon and Peter Davison’s short Warbird Tech volume #42, “Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker” if you’d like to know more.