With India and Russia keen to expand their de-dollarisation exercise, the South Asian nation's Reliance Industries Limited conglomerate, the owner of the largest refining complex on the planet, has inked an annual contract with the Eurasian country's Rosneft to make payments of its crude purchases in Roubles, a report published in Reuters noted on Tuesday.
According to the terms of the deal, Reliance Industries will procure a minimum of 3 million barrels per month from the Russian oil firm.
Moving away from the US dollar as a mode of payment for commodities has been a key focus of both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with both leaders urging their trading partners to focus on making payments in national currencies.
Among other currencies that Indian state-run oil companies and Reliance have used to pay Russian crude suppliers are INR, UAE Dirhams, and Chinese Yuan.
It is worth noting that since the West imposed unilateral financial sanctions on Moscow in February 2022, India has emerged as the second-biggest buyer of Russian oil.
Last month, India imported 1.8 million barrels per day from Russia, taking its contribution to India's oil basket from 32 percent to 38 percent.