Russia Proposed SPFS To India As An Alternative To SWIFT

Russia proposed the SPFS system, which it developed as an alternative to SWIFT, to India for ruble payments. SPFS is known as the Russian equivalent of the SWIFT financial transfer system developed by the Central Bank of Russia.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, it was exposed to various sanctions from many countries. Russia has proposed the SPFS system as an alternative to ruble payments to India, which imports weapons and oil. It was noted that with the new plan, Russia could start using the SPSF system developed as an alternative to SWIFT for rupee-ruble payments. It was added to the statements that a final decision on this situation has not been made yet, and that the issue will be discussed during the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday. After the rise in global oil prices, India announced that it wanted to continue its bilateral relations with Russia, since it bought cheap oil from Russia. Alongside this statement, India did not condemn the invasion and stated that the two countries should establish a dialogue for a diplomatic solution. There was a call from the US and Ukraine to "do the right thing" about India's reluctance to criticize Russia. According to the report of the Central Bank of Russia; By 2020, transaction volume in SPFS had approached 20 percent of SWIFT traffic in the country. It was noted that the number of daily messages, including transfer transactions, within the SPFS system exceeded 70 thousand. The fact that the system is more cost-effective than SWIFT and that its technology is constantly improved continues to attract the attention of domestic and foreign organizations.