Russian firms ramp up spending from rupee accounts on defence equipment, arms

NEW DELHI : Russian companies have spent nearly $4 billion from their funds lying in rupee vostro accounts in India to buy locally made arms, among other purchases, over the past 6-8 months, according to two people aware of the matter. Russia, under western sanctions because of its invasion of Ukraine, was among 22 countries whose banks were allowed to open special vostro accounts with lenders in India to conduct trade in the local currency. Rupee deposits in the Russian vostro account burgeoned as India bought increasing amounts of cheap Russian crude oil. Russian firms, however, did not see enough…