Moscow Dismisses Reports of Halted India-Russia Rupee Trade Talks

Moscow dismissed media reports suggesting the suspension of settling India-Russian trade in Indian rupees, calling them “wishful thinking by Western news agencies.” For more than a year, Russia and India have been negotiating to open up commerce in INR. On the other hand, some Western media outlets reported on Thursday that Moscow had not been persuaded by the trade deal utilizing the rupee.

“No change in bilateral developments, Wishful thinking by Western news agencies,” news agency ANI quoted a Russian official as saying.

Among the first of the 19 nations to consent to enable bilateral trade settlement with India using INR was Russia. After Vladimir Putin began a full-scale military offensive in Ukraine, the US and its allies imposed sanctions on Moscow last year. After the sanctions, Russia began conducting business with other nations using their own currencies.

An official from the Indian government was quoted by Reuters on Thursday as stating that due to the large trade deficit, “Russia believes it will end up with an annual rupee surplus of over $40 billion if such a mechanism is worked out and feels rupee accumulation is not desirable.”

Another Indian government official was mentioned in the news as adding that Russia preferred to be paid in other currencies, such as the Chinese yuan, rather than the Indian rupee.

“We don’t want to promote rupee settlement any longer; the system is simply broken. A third source who was directly informed of the developments was described in the report as stating, “India has done everything we can to try and make this work, but it hasn’t helped.

According to reports, up until April 5, India’s imports from Russia increased to $51.3 billion from $10.6 billion at the same time last year.

Over the previous few months, India’s imports from Russia have increased significantly. Discounted oil has increased twelve-fold in price while making up a significant portion of India’s imports.