NEW DELHI: Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) president Sergey Katyrin said on Tuesday that the issue of payments between Russia and India is close to resolution and the two sides have been working on various options.
Katyrin, who is in India as the head of a large business delegation from Russia, told The New Indian Express that the possibility of rupee-rouble trade is very much on the table. “In the last year, we have traded for $30 billion. Most of the payments happened in national currencies. We have traded with many countries in national currencies. In our Eurasian Economic Union (which includes five countries), nearly 75 percent of the mutual settlements are in national currencies. With many partners, these relationships are being built on a mutual basis which includes China and India.”
He, however, added, “I don’t think all mutual settlements will be in the rupee. There is a segment which does not allow us settlement in rupees. At the same time, we would not want Indian banks to attract sanctions from the West. Of course, we are looking for other options, there are complications, but there are many options too.”
India and Russia have been engaged in talks to resolve the payment crisis. Russia supplies huge amounts of arms and equipment as well as crude oil to India. Since the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia after it attacked Ukraine, dues have been piling up on India. Among the options is the revival of the rupee-rouble trade.
The Russian side has been bullish on India and in spite of the dues piling up, Russia has continued with the supplies. The country, in fact, is seeking a closer engagement with India. The Russian delegation of businessmen that has arrived in India is seeking collaborations with india businesses in many fields. “Around 90 companies are accompanying us from various sectors like automobiles, IT, machine building, pharmaceuticals, etc. Our spectrum is very wide. These companies are mostly medium and small scale. Usually the big companies have their own connections. Help is needed by small and medium scale industries. For this reason, we are inaugurating today an India office of the Russian CCI at New Delhi,” Katyrin said.
“Russian companies are looking for partners in India. Many companies that were earlier working in the West are also looking at partnering with India since their businesses are not viable there any longer,” he said.
The Russian business delegation engaged on Wednesday with the India counterparts in business-to-business meetings organised by the Federation of India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). “FICCI has made a special electronic platform for Indian businessmen to engage with the Russian industry. Arrangements have been made to help Russian and Indian companies to identify their potential partners well in advance of our India trip. We had been preparing for this visit for more than two months along with Indian colleagues and I am sure this will be very successful,” said the Russian CCI president.