WEB DESK
The High Commission of India organised a familiarisation event yesterday on the use of the Indian Rupee for trade settlements between India and Sri Lanka. The discussion centred around using national currencies for economic transactions between India and Sri Lanka.
The event provided more details to the business community in India and Sri Lanka regarding the rupee use. The use of Indian rupee is seen to strengthen the bilateral economic engagement between the two countries.
High Commissioner of India Gopal Baglay, Sri Lanka’s state finance minister Shehan Semasinghe and Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Nandalal Weerasinghe participated in the event.
Mr. Baglay said Use of Indian rupees as means of trade settlement will lay the foundation for a long-term greater and closer economic partnership between India and Sri Lanka. He also spoke on creating mechanisms by which Indian tourists can pay in Indian rupees, that will make Sri Lanka even more attractive as a tourist destination.
Mr. Baglay recounted the success of digital India campaign and said that India accounts for over 41% of digital transactions across the world. He said that because of the geographical proximity and familiarity between people and businesses of the two countries, closer interaction between India and Sri Lanka is logical.
Representatives of Bank of Ceylon, State Bank of India and Indian Bank shared details of the efforts put by them in using Rupee settlement.
They also elaborated the benefits of Rupee settlement such as shorter time for remittances, no dependency on hard currencies such as US Dollars and cheaper transactions.
Representatives from RBI made an online presentation on the proposed framework to take rupee settlements forward. Bank of Ceylon informed the gathering that they have completed transaction settlements in Indian Rupee worth over 1 crore rupees.
On the occasion SBI also said that the bank had done the pilot transaction settlement in Indian Rupee yesterday.
Remembering the assistance extended by India and RBI during Sri Lanka’s crisis last year, Governor of CBSL Nandalal Weerasinghe said that India had been the lifeline for the island nation. He acknowledged the benefits, cost savings and efficiency of rupee settlement.
Mr. Semasinghe said new initiative with Indian Rupee will have a new beginning for trade between Sri Lanka and India.
He hoped that the arrangement can be extended to Services like tourism also. He agreed that tourism is a very important area when it comes to India and Sri Lanka.