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Business News/ News / India/  No talks on rupee-ruble trade: Comm secy
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No talks on rupee-ruble trade: Comm secy

The clarification came amid reports that India and Russia are working on an alternative payment method

RBI had clarified on Saturday that there was no platform to facilitate a rupee-ruble trade. ReutersPremium
RBI had clarified on Saturday that there was no platform to facilitate a rupee-ruble trade. Reuters

Commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on Wednesday said there are “no official discussions" going on with regard to a rupee-ruble mechanism for trade with sanctions-hit Russia and that the government is only trying to help exporters recover dues that run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The clarification came amid reports that India and Russia are working on an alternative payment method for trade after Moscow was cut off from the SWIFT financial network by the EU, US and their allies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“No official discussions are going on with regards to the rupee-ruble trade mechanism. RBI has denied such reports too. All we are trying to do is facilitate the payments due for the goods that have already been sold…Because some banks are facing sanctions, we are trying to get the payments due to the Indian exporters via the non-sanctioned banks," Subrahmanyam told reporters.

According to industry estimates, $400-500 million worth of exporters’ payments are stuck with Russia for goods already shipped.

The central bank had clarified on Saturday that there was no platform to facilitate a rupee-ruble trade, however, it is in discussion with all the stakeholders in the matter. The Reserve Bank of India also mentioned that they are “sensitive" to the sanctions.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal added that the rupee-ruble trade mechanism is just being discussed and that no decision has been taken on it as yet.

Goyal further said that India’s services exports have crossed $250 bn in FY22, while the total merchandise exports reached $420 bn during the last financial year.

“Earlier the highest services exports came in at $213 bn during 2019-20. We have achieved the services target at a time when tourism was almost zero during covid-19, aviation sector was suffering," Goyal said.

The minister said India is emerging as a trusted trade partner globally, and the record high exports are a testament to that.“We (government) don’t want to be in business but we mean business," Goyal added.

On whether India’s service sector could be hit due to the ongoing conflict, Goyal said that India’s services exports to Russia and Ukraine were very small and hence there could be little impact on India.

However, the World Trade Bank on Wednesday said that Western sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals would likely have a strong effect on commercial services trade as Russia is a net services importer, with imports in 2021 valued at $74 billion and exports totalling $55 billion.

India’s overall exports including merchandise and services, touched an all-time high of $669.65 billion in April-March 2021-22, up 34.50% over the same period last year, the commerce and industry ministry said.

Overall imports in April-March 2021-22 are estimated to be $756.68 billion, up 47.80%over the same period last year. India’s exports grew by 15.51% in March 2022 to $64.75 billion over the same period last year, the ministry said.

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Published: 14 Apr 2022, 12:38 AM IST
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