Western Sanctions Ignored, Russia-India Trade Reaches IDR 1,000 Trillion

JAKARTA – Russia’s trade with India continues to grow rapidly and bilateral payments are running smoothly without disruptions that have hampered trade with other countries, Sberbank Deputy CEO Anatoly Popov told Reuters.

Sberbank handles payments for up to 70% of all Russian exports to India. Russia’s trade with India is set to nearly double to $65 billion by 2023, with the country becoming a major importer of Russian oil after Western sanctions were imposed in 2022 over the conflict in Ukraine.

“In 2022, there is a significant increase in Russian business interest in the Indian market because this market serves as an alternative,” Popov told Reuters in an interview ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum, an economic conference targeting Russia’s partners in Asia, quoted Tuesday (3/9/2024).

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Sberbank’s Indian branch has offices in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as an IT center in Bangalore. Its staffing in India has increased by 150% this year, as it said in April it would hire 300 IT personnel for its Bangalore center.

Sberbank is under Western sanctions and therefore cannot transact in US dollars and euros or use the SWIFT system for international transfers. However, Popov said the bank has not experienced any problems in India.

“Sberbank is a full participant in all payment and interbank systems in India. There are no restrictions on its operations,” Popov said.

India has not participated in anti-Russian sanctions and maintains friendly relations with Russia, a fellow member of the BRICS group of developing nations.

Sberbank said that transactions in rubles and rupees were smooth, with 90% of them taking just a few hours to settle. This is in stark contrast to other trading partners such as China.

Popov stressed that the growth of Indian exports to Russia has helped solve the problem of rupee surplus held by Russian companies, which hampered bilateral trade in 2023, as rupees are used to pay for imports from India.