India to offer Russia to invest trapped Rupees, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says

India will offer Russia options to invest the billions in rupees it has accumulated for exports, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday in New Delhi.

“Our Indian friends said they would propose promising areas they can be invested in,” Lavrov told reporters, citing talks with Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the East Asia summit prior to his arrival to India. “Right now our governments are talking how to use and invest them to mutual benefit.”

He didn’t provide further details.


Lavrov also said Russian arms contracts with India remain in force, despite difficulties with payments caused by sanctions imposed by the US and its allies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has emerged as a top supplier of oil to India over the past year, settling a greater share of trade in national currencies and redirecting shipments east as traditional customers in Europe shunned purchases after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. But with imports from India stagnating, Russia is ending up with an excess of rupees, which its companies have trouble repatriating because of local currency restrictions.