India is considering using a Russian alternative to the SWIFT financial messaging system for making payments in trade deals with Russia, according to a report from *Business Line*. This move comes as both nations seek to reduce their reliance on the US dollar and navigate around Western sanctions.

Russia's SWIFT alternative is called the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), which was created by the Russian central bank after Russia was cut off from the global SWIFT network due to sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine.

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is now in talks with Russia to potentially use this system. The idea is to make trade between the two countries faster and more efficient, especially in terms of settling payments directly in their national currencies—rupees and rubles—instead of using the dollar.

This could be a significant shift in how the two countries do business with each other. The RBI believes that using the SP...