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Russia–India Corridor: How Local-Currency Trade Works in PracticeRussia and India now settle around 96% of their bilateral trade in rubles and rupees, according to Ivan Nosov, head of Sberbank in India. Their payment corridor offers a working example of how BRICS countries can move trade into national currencies using existing banks and financial infrastructure.
The system supports a major commercial relationship. Bilateral trade reached a record $70B in 2024, driven largely by India’s imports of Russian oil. Transactions between the two markets are currently handled by 22 Russian banks and 17 Indian banks.
👉 Behind every payment is a network managing currency exchange, liquidity and final settlement. Nosov said that 90% of transactions are processed within ten minutes, while more than half are completed in less than one minute.
The corridor also had to overcome a serious imbalance. India bought far more from Russia than Russia bought from India, leaving Russian exporters with large amounts of rupees that were difficult to use because of the currency’s limited convertibility. Expanding Indian exports and improved banking arrangements have helped ease that bottleneck.
➡️ This is what practical de-dollarization looks like: existing banks connect two markets, national currencies carry the trade, and settlement remains fast enough for commercial use. A wider BRICS payment architecture could grow from multiple corridors built on the same principle, with each connecting specific currencies, banks and flows of goods.
The Russia–India corridor gives that broader project a concrete foundation. It is already operating at scale.
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Read our full analysis on Substack to learn how BRICS countries are building new payment links without creating a common currency.👍
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