In April of 2022 President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin instructed to prepare the market for the transition to settlements between Russia and India in national currencies. This decision is due to the fact that the United States has influence on mutual settlements in dollars and can confiscate or block funds at any time.
Also, the director of the second department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zamir Kabulov said that for a full transition to national currencies it is necessary to maintain a balance within trade operations. Nowadays Russian exports to India are many times greater than imports. Zamir Kabulov noted that the specialists of the department are already working on this issue.
In turn India is considering the possibility of transactions in digital currency and on the 1st of November 2022 launched a pilot program of the Central Bank (CBDC) or the so-called digital rupee, which is a digital form of banknotes issued by the central bank. Such currency can be used in contactless transactions.
On the 1st of February 2022 the Federal Minister of Finance of the Republic of India Nirmala Sitharaman in his speech regarding the financial plan, proposed the introduction of a digital rupee using blockchain and other technologies, which will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India from 2022-23.