22 countries opened special bank accounts in India to trade in Rupee: Minister

In order to trade in local currency as part of gradual de-dolarisation plans, banks from 22 countries have opened special rupee vostro accounts with Indian banks, the Parliament was informed on Friday.
Vostro accounts enable domestic banks to provide international banking services to clients who have global banking needs.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State (External Affairs), Rajkumar Ranjan Singh listed out the names of the countries. They include Belarus, Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh, Maldives, Kazakhstan and United Kingdom.
“Government is engaged with Indian trading community including the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to simplify the administrative procedures to implement this mechanism,” the minister said.
The Reserve Bank of India last year put in place an arrangement, allowing transactions in domestic currencies to promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to bring in increasing interest towards rupee.
The internalisation of the rupee gathered steam following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) announcement of a mechanism to settle payments for international trade in rupees, especially for India’s exports. The RBI allowed invoicing and payments for international trade in Indian Rupee on July 11, 2022.
Experts widely believe if the mechanism fructifies then it may go a long way in internationalising the Indian currency rupee in the long run.
A currency can be termed ‘international’ if it is widely accepted worldwide as a medium of exchange.