The State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest lender, is opening rupee accounts “to handle Russia-related trade settlements,” according to IDEX Online.
Recently, the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) has announced that SBI was being authorized to promote rupee trade with Russia. Now, it is expected that Moscow will name a Russian bank to operate the trade mechanism.
This move has clear consequences for diamond traders, as it will “allow India to more readily buy diamonds from Russia’s state-controlled miner Alrosa” after dollar transactions with Russian companies have been outlawed.
Recently, it was reported that SBI will start lending to manufacturers of lab-grown diamonds (LGDs) – a $5.1 billion-a-year industry in India.
