India and Russia have suspended efforts to settle bilateral trade in rupees, after months of negotiations failed to convince Moscow to keep rupees in its coffers, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two Indian government officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter. "As for rupees, this is a problem because there are billions of rupees accumulated in accounts at Indian banks and we need to use this money," Lavrov told a press conference in India.
"For this, rupees should be converted into other
currencies. This is being discussed."
India started exploring a rupee settlement mechanism with Russia soon after Moscow despatched troops to Ukraine in February last year, but there has been no reported deal done in rupees. Most trade is in dollars but an increasing amount is being carried out in other currencies like the UAE dirham.
India's commodity imports from Russia have surged since
Moscow began what it calls a "special military operation" in
Ukraine, with Russia offering deep discounts on key commodities,
especially fuel.
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Alexander Marrow, editing by
Mark Heinrich)
