new delhi india is proposing to settle trade with russia in rupees according to a person with knowledge of the matter as the south asian nation presses ahead with purchases of oil and weapons from the sanctionshit countrynew delhi plans to use about 2 billion equivalent of rupees deposited at russias statecontrolled vtb bank pjsc and sberbank of russia pjsc the person said asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private a plan could be finalized soon as russian officials are visiting the indian capital this week the person addedindia has previously used a rupeeruble mechanism which has fallen out of favor this time around due to extreme volatility in the russian currency the person said adding that deposits in the russian accounts could swell to 5 billion by yearend given how much india is buyingprime minister narendra modis administration is keen to finalize a mechanism as india has been lifting imports of oil to take advantage of a dip in prices after us europe australia and japan piled economic sanctions on russia cheaper russian crude can help india which has seen inflation surge past the central banks target as oil rallies to nearly 130 a barrelindia had a trade deficit of 661 billion with russia in the year ended march 2022 with total bilateral trade at 131 billion new delhi is working on boosting exports of products such as pharmaceuticals plastics and chemicals to balance the booksindia the worlds largest buyer of russian weapons has resisted pressure from the us and australia to scale back its relationship it has cited threats from pakistan and china to argue its case for continued supplies a move that prompted the us to consider extending foreign military finance to wean india away from russiamade military hardware india has historically attempted a neutral stance on tensions between major powers even as it has joined groups such as the quad security alliance with australia japan and the us