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- All for, not against: when to wait for the launch of Mir cards in India and RuPay in Russia
All for, not against: when to wait for the launch of Mir cards in India and RuPay in Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed the joint recognition of the Mir and PayPal payment systems at a meeting in Moscow on November 18, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, who participated in the negotiations, told Izvestia. The delegations will raise this issue again at the high-level talks in December, he said. Against the background of difficulties with payments, the parties have already increased mutual settlements in national currencies to 90%. And in critical areas, such as for oil purchases, India uses the currencies of countries friendly to Russia. At the same time, pressure from the United States is increasing on New Delhi. How trade and economic cooperation between Russia and India will develop in such conditions is described in the Izvestia article.
When will the Mir card be launched in India
Russia and India are intensifying negotiations on the mutual recognition of the Mir and RuPay payment systems. This topic was discussed, in particular, at the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar on November 18. It will also be raised at the upcoming Russian-Indian summit talks in December, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Izvestia.
— This, of course, would contribute to a greater influx of Russian tourists to India, would help them navigate the country and purchase the services provided by our Indian friends. We hope that this (joint recognition of the Mir and RuPay payment systems. — Ed.) and other issues will be resolved. Of course, this topic will be discussed. It is among the permanent points of our negotiations," the diplomat said.
In parallel, the parties are trying to integrate instant payment systems — the Russian SBP and the Indian UPI.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an Indian interface that connects consumers' and sellers' bank accounts, meaning you can pay without a card "from account to account" using a QR code or phone number.
RuPay is an Indian national card network, established in 2012 as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard.
— Negotiations [on mutual recognition of Mir and RuPay systems] have been going on for several years, the key task now is to ensure mutual acquisition. This can be achieved relatively quickly, at least on a limited scale. The next step is to pair SBP and UPI, ideally to ensure that businesses can make mutual settlements through Mir and RuPay," Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the Indian Ocean Region Center at IMEMO RAS, explained to Izvestia.
In this case, the business will be able to switch to direct payments in rubles and rupees without intermediaries, and the commission, according to analysts, may decrease by 20-30%. In addition, Russian entrepreneurs will be able to work with Indian clients through popular tools ranging from QR payments to electronic wallets. And with India's population of more than 1.4 billion, this opens up huge opportunities for online commerce.
According to Denis Alipov, the Russian Ambassador to India, Russian banks with representative offices in India, including Sberbank and VTB, are dealing with the issue of organizing retail cross-border operations. And at the end of August, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov noted that the two countries would continue to develop cooperation in the banking and insurance sectors.
Tourists will also be able to pay with a Mir card for goods in Indian stores and a RuPay card in Russian stores, and make instant transfers using a QR code or phone.
At the same time, Russians still have the opportunity to make non-cash payments for goods and services in India, but this is somewhat more complicated than simply attaching a card to a terminal. To do this, download the Cheq mobile app and register — you will need your passport details and a valid Indian visa. After that, the user gets access to the electronic wallet that needs to be activated. To do this, it is enough to meet with an agent of a Cheq partner in any major city in India, indicating the place and time through the application. You can top up your wallet through SberBank Online.
Will India abandon Russian oil
Trade and economic cooperation between Russia and India is actively developing in many areas. In particular, settlements in national currencies are consistently carried out — by now their share in total payments has reached 90%. But there are still limitations. For example, there remains a trade imbalance with a significant excess of Russian exports over imports from India. In 2024, the trade turnover reached a maximum of $70.6 billion, where exports accounted for $65.7 billion, while imports accounted for only $4.9 billion. Because of this, in particular, at one time there was a problem with the "suspended rupees" that accumulated in the accounts of Russian exporters in Indian banks. In addition, there is no direct conversion of rupees into Russian rubles.
But even if there are problems with payment, the parties are still finding alternative and acceptable ways for each other. So, in October, it was reported that oil traders began requesting Indian refineries to pay for Russian raw materials in yuan amid the "warming" between New Delhi and Beijing. Paying in Chinese currency really makes calculations easier, because yuan can be directly exchanged for rubles, which are necessary for payments to suppliers from the Russian Federation. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed that India has switched to paying in yuan, but the percentage is still small. At the same time, the parties do not intend to deviate from the course of settlements in rubles and rupees.
— For us, the use of national currencies is a priority. As for other currencies, we will use them as needed," Andrei Rudenko emphasized in an interview with Izvestia.
Recently, the United States has been putting strong pressure on India to purchase Russian energy resources. However, Donald Trump's threats to impose increased duties did not work, despite five rounds of negotiations. As a result, at the end of August, Washington raised them to 50% for New Delhi. Moreover, the United States called on the EU to block the import of petroleum products from India and Turkey, produced from Russian raw materials, so that Brussels would completely abandon energy resources from the Russian Federation. At the same time, Indian officials assured that they would continue to purchase Russian oil.
However, in late October, Reuters reported that Indian refineries had reduced imports by 50% and, for example, purchased Guyanese crude oil from American ExxonMobil for the first time. A few weeks later, Trump began to claim that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "practically stopped" buying oil from Russia and even allowed duties to be reduced. At the same time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told reporters that India continues to purchase Russian oil.
The situation was probably complicated by recent American sanctions against Lukoil and Rosneft. According to The New York Times, citing sources, India is completing a three-year period of active purchases of Russian oil before the sanctions come into effect on November 21. Allegedly, the last supertankers with Russian oil left the Black Sea ports in advance a month ago in order to meet the deadline.
— India probably won't give in completely after all, because abandoning cheap Russian oil would be a disaster for its economy. And India's Middle Eastern partners will not be inferior in price," says Vladimir Sotnikov, an expert on South Asia.
Against this background, it is difficult to give any guarantees regarding the use of the Mir card. Indians can first put the card into circulation, and then withdraw it, as was the case, for example, in Turkey. However, there are many other promising areas in Russian-Indian cooperation.
— India is very interested in our space program. There were successful satellite launches in the 1990s, but so far they have stalled due to technical difficulties. Then medicine, healthcare, they are also interested in our latest AI-based developments. And this is despite the fact that they have strong computer scientists in India, in particular in Bangalore," Vladimir Sotnikov told Izvestia.
The upcoming Russian-Indian talks in New Delhi will give a serious impetus to resolving all pressing issues. The parties will sign a number of documents on cooperation in trade, economic and investment spheres. According to Roscongress, the Russian president will arrive in the capital of the Republic on December 5 and address the plenary session of the Russian-Indian Forum. The Kremlin promised to officially announce the dates of the visit later.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
