The Indo-Russian bilateral trade in Rupee-Rouble denominations has surged under Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's tenure by five-fold, from six per cent of total such trade earlier to an all-time high of thirty per cent, reports Economic Times.

Signalling the bolstering of Indo-Russian ties, the rise in trade using Rupee-Rouble arrangement shields the two nations from unilateral sanctions from the United States, which has imposed numerous sanctions on the use of dollars to trade with Russia.

The two nations are set to provide further impetus to the arrangement, as Deputy Ambassador of Russia to India, Roman Babushkin said that additional measures will be taken up when Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi visits Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin in September.

“In the past six years, there has been a five fold increase in payments in national currencies from about 6 per cent to over 30 per cent now. This has made business operations more comfortable and in some ways we were forced to use this practice to avoid a situation when our economic interaction was depending on a universal currency like the dollar,” Bubushkin said.

It should be noted that the two nations recently agreed to carry out India's payments to Russian arms manufacturer for purchasing five S-400 Triumf air defence systems in Rupees, which would help India navigate through the threat of sanctions by the United States. The S-400 deal alone is valued between $5.2-5.6 billion.