Russia’s Gazprombank has expanded its links with banks in India to boost trade between the two countries in national currencies, a key executive said on Monday.
The move comes amid surging trade between the two counties, with Russia becoming the biggest supplier of oil to India this year.
“We worked hard to establish our level of partnership with Indian banks and our representatives here worked hard,” Elena Borisenko, deputy chairman of the board of management of Gazprombank, said on the sidelines of an India-Russia business dialogue event in New Delhi on Monday.
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“Now we have infrastructure, we have payments from banks … it is much better than it was three months ago,” she added.
Gazprombank is Russia’s third-largest lender by assets and a key conduit of the Russian energy trade.
Due to higher purchases of oil, the trade balance is tilted increasingly in favour of Russia. That balance could be improved through Russian companies investing in infrastructure projects in India, Borisenko said.
“We are hoping that [trade] will be better, it will be improving, and … payments between Russia and Indian will be more and more in national currencies,” the executive said.
India last year implemented a broader framework to facilitate overseas trade in rupees and since then many foreign banks, including Gazprombank and other Russian institutions, have opened vostro accounts with Indian banks.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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