Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in India’s western state of Goa that it has billions of Indian rupees that it can't use.
Russia has accumulated billions of rupees in Indian banks which it can’t use, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, pointing to a ballooning trade surplus with the South Asian nation.
“This is a problem,” Lavrov told reporters in India’s western state of Goa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. “We need to use this money. But for this, these rupees must be transferred in another currency, and this is being discussed now.”
India’s total exports to Russia shrunk 11.6 percent to $2.8 billion in the first 11 months of the 2022-23 financial year, while imports rose nearly fivefold to $41.56 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. That surge came as Indian refiners have scooped up discounted Russian oil in...