Russia and India fundamentally refuse to use the euro and the dollar in mutual trade, the director of the second department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zamir Kabulov, told RIA Novosti.

"We are leaving the dollar and the euro as a matter of principle, we have to switch to national currencies," he said.

Kabulov specified that for a full-fledged transition it is necessary to solve the problem of imbalance in trade operations: India buys from Russia five times more than it sells. According to the diplomat, experts are currently looking for a compromise on this issue.

In April 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin said the market should be prepared for the transition to national currencies. He explained that in this way any currency could be freely exchanged into rubles in any volume.

In early November, the Indian government authorized international trade settlements in Indian rupees to promote exports. In September, The Economic Times reported that India would begin trading with Russia in rupees; the State Bank of India (SBI) had agreed to facilitate trade transactions with Russian partners in local currency.