Reuters: India starts paying for Russian oil in yuan
Photo: EPA

Traders offering Russian oil have started asking Indian state-owned refineries to pay in yuan. This is with reference to sources writes Reuters.

The leading state-owned oil company Indian Oil Corp has already paid in yuan for several shipments of Russian oil.

According to the agency, traders supplying oil from Russia are actively demanding that Indian state-owned companies switch to settlements in Chinese currency. This is due to the fact that the yuan is one of the few currencies that can be converted directly into rubles for final settlements with Russian producers.

In addition, traders took the recent signs of improved relations between New Delhi and Beijing as an opportunity to simplify transactions with Indian buyers.

At the same time, in order to comply with the EU price, traders continue to set prices for Russian oil in dollars, demanding equivalent payment in yuan.

The switch to the yuan was part of the global de-dollarization process accelerated by Western sanctions against Russia after the war in Ukraine. The sanctions have forced oil market participants to actively use alternative currencies, including the Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham, Reuters reports.

This is not India's first attempt switch to yuan payments. In 2023, Indian state-owned refineries were already making some payments in Chinese currency, but then stopped them amid deteriorating relations with China.