An attempt to settle bilateral commerce in rupees between India and Russia has been put on hold. There have been many after months of talks but Russia is not ready to keep rupees in its reserves.
Reuters carried the report on Thursday, citing to two Indian government officials and a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
This is a significant setback for India's importers of cheap Russian coal and oil. They had been seeking a long-term rupee payment system. An Indian government official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Russia has a trade surplus with India and believes that if such a mechanism is put in place, Russia will end up with an annual rupee surplus of over $40 billion and considers that rupee accumulation is "not desirable."
