Russia says no more hurdles in payments with India

MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Russia and India, the second-largest importer of Russian oil, have built a functioning payments infrastructure using roubles and rupees, which now account for 96% of bilateral trade, a senior Russian banker said on Wednesday.

Russia's trade with India reached a record $70 billion in 2024, tripling since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, as India stepped up imports of Russian oil discounted due to Western sanctions. Bilateral trade fell in 2025 when those sanctions were tightened but rebounded in the first half of 2026.

"There are no problems with settlements between Russia and India. I am ready to say that this is one of the most reliable and best-established mechanisms for Russia's payments with other countries," said Ivan Nosov, head of Sberbank in India.

Russian businesses had previously complained about an "overhang" of rupees, an only partially convertible currency, in bilateral transactions, as well as trade imbalances, with Indian exports to Russia lagging behind surging imports of Russian oil.

According to official data, 22 Russian banks, including Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, which was tasked with developing the payments infrastructure, and 17 Indian banks are currently servicing bilateral trade.

Nosov said that 90% of all transactions between Russia and India are processed within 10 minutes, while more than 50% are processed in less than one minute.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed growing economic ties with Russia when he met President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Gleb Bryanski; editing by Philippa Fletcher)