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Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday pushed for trade in local currency amongst the BRICS countries to strengthen economic cooperation. "Trade in local currency and easy cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation," Modi said at the plenary session of the BRICS Summit at Kazan in Russia. BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India, in its attempt to internationalise the rupee, allowed exports and imports between two trading partners to be settled in rupees in 2022. Russia was the first country to start settlement of trade with India in rupee. The RBI has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the central bank of the UAE for cross-border payments in rupee and dirham. India is in discussion with several other countries, including Indonesia, to enable trade settlement in local currency.

 

The prime minister also welcomed efforts to increase financial integration amongst BRICS countries. He hailed the Unified Payment Interface created by India during his remarks and called it a big success story of the country. "It has been adopted in many countries. Last year, we launched it in the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with Sheikh Mohammed. Cooperation can be done in this with other foreign countries as well," Modi said. India has bilaterally integrated UPI with the fast payment systems of France, Sri Lanka, Oman, Bhutan, and Mauritius. In Southeast Asia, the Indian interface is already linked with the payment systems of Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The Reserve Bank of India is in talks with central banks of several other countries to link the instant payments systems.

 

The prime minister said that the BRICS Business Council and BRICS Women Business Alliance have played a special role in increasing economic cooperation. "The consensus reached within BRICS this year on World Trade Organisation reforms, trade facilitation in agriculture, resilience supply chains, e-commerce and special economic zones will strengthen our economic cooperation. Among all these initiatives, we should also focus on the interests of small and medium-scale industries. I am happy that the BRICS Startup Forum proposed during India's chairmanship in 2021 will be launched this year," Modi said.

 

He welcomed the new members of the BRICS and said that in its new form, BRICS represents 40% of the world's humanity and about 30% of the economy. "BRICS has achieved many things in the last two decades. I am confident that in the coming times, this organisation will emerge as a more effective medium to face global challenges," Modi said.  End

 

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

 

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