The Indian authorities are considering the proposal of the Russian Federation to use the Russian alternative to SWIFT in bilateral trade – the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), for settlements in national currencies. According to the scheme proposed by Russia, rubles will be placed in an Indian bank account and then converted into rupees, and vice versa. At the same time, it is not yet known whether the rate will be fixed or floating. India has not made any decision yet. It is noted that the issue will be discussed at the level of heads of foreign ministries. However, it is worth noting that India is extremely interested in continuing military-technical cooperation with Russia, as well as in purchasing oil at a discount to world prices. Russia has previously stated that foreign participants can join Russia's System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). At the moment, the system is running smoothly and can easily replace SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), but only within the country. A number of Russian banks that have been sanctioned due to the situation in Ukraine have already been disconnected from SWIFT.
