India in talks with 10 countries for currency swap pacts - Indian Express
India is in talks with major trading partners, including Singapore and Japan, as well as oil suppliers like Iraq and Venezuela, to accept payment in rupee for a part of their exports.
The assumption is that the rupee is now acceptable de facto as a unit of currency by traders in markets like Singapore and so the barter trade will give it legitimacy.
Earlier this year, India has begun paying for oil imports from Iran in rupees that could help save $8.5 billion in the current fiscal.
It plans to target oil producing countries such as Venezuela and Iraq, too, for a similar arrangement. But while Iran is a special case, Iraq or Saudi Arabia have problems as they hardly import anything from India.
A larger volume of trade in rupee will expand the onshore market for the currency, which is now dominated by offshore non-deliverable forwards market.