Oil transactions between India and Russia are not currently being conducted in rupees because negotiations are continuing. This was stated by Pankaj Jain, the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India, during discussions at the ADIPEC oil and gas exhibition.
He said that This topic is now being discussed between the two nations; the negotiations have not yet been completed. In response to a question from TASS on whether or not Indian currency (in the form of rupees) is being used to purchase oil from Russia, he stated that this is not the case.
Jain further mentioned that India and Russia settle their oil deliveries with other currencies.
However, he wanted to refrain from commenting on the amount of oil that India wants to buy from Russia in 2023 and stated that it is impossible to forecast how much oil India will buy because he does not buy oil. The spokesman of the Indian Ministry of Petroleum mentioned that the purchases were made by companies based in India.
The information that huge sums of Indian rupees had been gathered in Russia due to India’s payment for Russian oil purchases in rupees was disproved in September by Pavan Kapoor, India’s Ambassador to Russia. He noted that this situation is explained by a trade imbalance between the two countries.
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Energy refuted the allegations made by economist Mikhail Zadornov, who stated that the rupees stored in accounts may be one of the causes of the ruble’s depreciation. The Russian Ministry of Energy said that the rupees held in accounts are not one of the reasons for the depreciation of the ruble. Because oil companies repatriate a significant portion of their foreign currency revenue, the Ministry of Energy informed TASS that the opinion that problems with rupee conversion are causing the weakening of the ruble’s exchange rate does not reflect the actual situation. Any delays are not systemic, according to the Ministry of Energy’s statement.
