Calcutta:
Aiming to strengthen economic ties with India, Russia’s envoy to India said on Monday that payment issues are hampering trade and “additional efforts” are needed by banks and exporters to overcome the hurdle.
Denis Alipov, Russian Ambassador to India, said the Vostro trade settlement mechanism (payment in rupees) was not working properly.
“Some additional efforts are needed from companies and banks to investigate the circumstances,” he said.
However, he did not elaborate on what he meant by “extra effort.”
Replying to a question on the sidelines of an interactive session organized by MCCI, he emphasized the need for additional efforts by Indian banks and exporters to solve this problem.
While he admitted that solving the payment method would require a lot of fine-tuning, Alipov said banks are willing to cooperate.
Regarding the defense deal for the S-400 advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defense system, Alipov acknowledged delays but said supplies continue but on a new schedule.
Sanctions led to Russian banks being excluded from the Swift banking network.
Despite these challenges, Alipov remained optimistic and anticipated a trade boom once the payment mechanism was streamlined.
At the same time, the Russian diplomat expressed interest in greater cooperation in the MSME sector, with a sizeable delegation heading to West Bengal for BGBS, the two-day investment summit starting on Tuesday.
There is interest in various sectors such as energy, defense, space, logistics, education, railways and catering.
Bilateral trade in FY’23 stood at $49 billion, making Russia India’s fourth largest trading partner.
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