More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025

 

--Govt source: Indian delegation to visit Russia in late Aug 

--Govt source: Rupee trade may be discussed at India-Russia officials meet

 

NEW DELHI – Amidst the diplomatic dilemma that India finds itself in, a group of Indian delegates are scheduled to visit Russia later this month, a senior government official said Thursday. Among a host of discussions, settling bilateral trade in rupee may also be discussed, the official added.

 

The official visit comes at a time when India faces a 50% tariff on goods exported to the US for procurement of energy from Russia. Effective Aug. 7, Indian goods shipped to the US will have to bear 25% tariff, which is set to double to 50% from Aug. 27, as a penalty for trading with Russia. Moreover, US President Donald Trump has made scathing remarks about India and Russia, saying he does not care "what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care."

 

India has maintained close economic ties with Russia for several decades now. While India has traditionally relied on Moscow for military equipment, New Delhi has become one of the biggest buyers of the country's crude oil since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

 

India has been buying crude oil from Moscow at discounted prices amid sanctions by Western countries on Russia. The Group of Seven nations had initially imposed a $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian crude. Later, it imposed more sanctions to try and curb Moscow's crude oil sales. India has bought Russian crude oil at up to $30-a-barrel cheaper, though discounts have varied sharply over the past three years and have been around $2 a barrel in recent times. The International Monetary Fund in February had said India saved around $7 billion per year by importing crude oil from Russia at discounted prices.

 

Not just trade sanctions, Western countries had also sidelined Russia by imposing financial sanctions including banning them from Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication – an international payment system which is the global financial artery that allows smooth and rapid transfer of money across borders. This ban, which took effect in March 2022, aimed to restrict Russia's access to global financial transactions.

 

Since then India and Russia have settled trade in both rupee and dollar terms through rupee vostro accounts and Russia's System for Transfer of Financial Messages, an alternative to the SWIFT international payment system. Both the nations have been speaking for a while about further bolstering local bilateral trade settlement mechanism.   End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta and Krity Ambey

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.