Rupee invoicing picking up in Middle East: StanChart’s Singh
“It is picking up in Middle Eastern corridors and could expand in future, much like how Chinese yuan invoicing became common in solar equipment trade,” he said, adding that the move was steady but not yet large-scale.Govt and RBI have been working on internationalisation of the rupee to protect forex reserves and ensure energy security.
However, a major impediment has been the lack of a balance of trade.The bank is also strengthening its role in foreign exchange clearing.
Singh said, Standard Chartered, already one of the largest players globally, would soon launch US dollar clearing from GIFT City.
“We are the number one or two in GBP (pound) and euro clearing for the Indian banking system.
Outside G3 currencies, the rupee is the biggest in correspondent banking flows.
With 33 Indian banks as partners, this positions us strongly as a clearing bank,” Singh said.On energy trade, Singh said India could absorb the cost impact of diversifying away from Russian crude if sanctions tightened and the issue was more about the country’s independence.
“If India were to switch entirely to US oil, the additional cost would be $6-7 billion.
In the broader context of Indian economy, that is not a very large number.
From the bank’s standpoint, we will not deal with sanctioned entities,” he said.On the US visa policy, Singh said it was too early to assess the impact of changes to H-1B rules but added that India remained a hub for global capability centres.
“We are banking five to seven new GCCs every month, and in our own centres in Chennai and Bangalore we employ around 24,000 people.
India today is not just a cost hub, it is a skills hub,” he said.
