IGI Logo

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that many developed and developing countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and nations of the Gulf region are keen to start trade in rupee with India as it would help cut transaction costs for businesses. He expressed confidence that the development is going to be a ‘very game-changing’ dimension to India's international trade. He added that gradually countries are realising that undertaking trade in domestic currencies has several advantages. 

The minister said that it is now picking up traction and a lot of countries have come forward for this arrangement and are talking to India for that as they would also like to initiate direct transactions between their local currency and the rupee. He said gradually the conscience is setting in that rather than converting all the transactions into a third currency, both ways, adds significantly to transaction costs. He noted that undertaking trade in other currencies leads to foreign exchange and transaction losses as there is a cost for conversion. The delays in the movement of money also pushed transactors' costs. 

He further said ‘we started with the UAE. The UAE was one of the first countries to accept this. It's now picking up traction. We get a lot of countries who come and talk to us that they would like to also initiate direct transactions between the local currency and the rupee.’ He added that the engagement is also beneficial as the Indian Rupee is mostly stable against most of the international currencies and according to experts, this is one of the reasons that different nations today want to have trade relations built on rupee trade.