Russia has billions of Indian rupees it can’t use since invading Ukraine
- It must be transferred into another currency, but ‘this is a problem’, says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
- India has been scooping up discounted Russian oil shunned by the West in response to the invasion of Ukraine
Russia has accumulated billions of rupees in Indian banks which it can’t use, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, pointing to a ballooning trade surplus with the South Asian nation.
“This is a problem”, Lavrov told reporters in India’s Western state of Goa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting.
“We need to use this money. But for this, these rupees must be transferred in another currency, and this is being discussed now”.
India’s total exports to Russia shrunk 11.6 per cent to US$2.8 billion in the first 11 months of the 2022-23 financial year, while imports rose nearly fivefold to US$41.56 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
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That surge came as Indian refiners have scooped up discounted Russian oil in the past year that’s been shunned by the West in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.