India's soaring Russian oil imports making rupee payment mechanism futile

India’s love for discounted Russia oil is widening its trade deficit with Moscow and the casualty is their much-touted rupee trade plan. 
 

The gap between their exports and imports is rising and that’s making the local currency payment mechanism futile, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. No payment has been initiated because Russian banks do not want excess rupee piling up, they said. 

New Delhi’s imports from Russia in eight months to November were almost 16 times its shipments to the nation, trade ministry data show. Russia’s war with Ukraine,