Russia and India create payment systems similar to SWIFT
To provide service to the bilateral trade between Russia and India, an international payment system in rupees and rubles similar to SWIFT was created
Russia and India finalized the creation of an international payment system in rupees and rubles in order to provide service to bilateral trade with a platform similar to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT, which is not available to Russia as a consequence of the sanctions.
According to specialized sources, “India offered a series of transaction platforms of this type, of which the Russian authorities have accepted a specific network protocol” that will allow smooth transfers of import or export documents for operations in rupees. and rubles.
The new platform will be installed at the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Russian state bank (VEB) and its implementation is expected to be finalized during the next week. In order to guarantee the proper functioning of both financial institutions they are working on a regulatory framework to carry out mutual transactions.
The system provides for transactions to be “settled through the rupiah debt account, which VEB will hold at the RBI. If a Russian importing company receives a shipment from an Indian exporter, VEB (assuming it is the importer’s bank) will receive from the local importer the rubles or dollars equivalent to the value of the business. It will then inform the RBI to debit the same amount of rupees from the rupees debt account and credit it to the Indian bank of the exporter.”
Expanding the market and business relationships
The sanctions imposed on Russia can benefit India’s economy by allowing it to expand the amount of exports and expand in the Russian market. During 2021 this country exported some 3,300 million dollars in pharmaceutical products, tea and coffee.
While India acquired from the Russians some 6.9 billion dollars in weapons, mineral resources, fertilizers, metals, diamonds and other precious stones, as well as oil. Some Indian media outlets recently noted “that the country’s leading refiner, Indian Oil, has increased purchases of Russian crude over the past month.”
India has been on the Russian market for a long time and participates in the state Farma program, which is dedicated to the development of the pharmaceutical and medical industry in Russia. The Russian ambassador in New Delhi, Denis Alipov, stressed that pharmaceutical companies can replace Western manufacturers that have left the market as a result of sanctions. “There are joint ventures for drug manufacturing in Russia and I think there will be more opportunities in this niche,” the ambassador noted.
M. Rodríguez
Source: actualidad.rt.com
