Russian Ambassador to India spoke about the progress of transferring trade to national currencies

Russia and India adhere to a flexible approach to the use of different currencies in mutual settlements, using US dollars, national currencies, and currencies of third countries. Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov spoke about this in an interview with Izvestia.

“The priority areas of work are the optimization of mutual settlement mechanisms, the use of an alternative SWIFT financial information exchange system, the synchronization of payment systems (MIR – RuPay), as well as the general expansion of interbank cooperation,” the ambassador said.

At the same time, according to him, the parties would not refuse to use the US dollar, “if we were not forced.”

“The de-dollarization trend is set by the Americans themselves. Obviously, India sees the risks associated with foreign currencies, and therefore has legally secured the possibility of using the rupee in international settlements – it is already being implemented with almost 20 countries,” Alipov said.

In 2022, the trade turnover between Russia and India increased by 2.5 times compared to the previous year, amounting to more than $35 billion. Thus, the parties reached and exceeded the target of $30 billion ahead of schedule, which they planned to reach only by 2025.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

“The de-dollarization trend is set by the Americans themselves”