India's Rupee Is
Going Global — What the RBI's 2025-26 Annual Report Tells Us
The Indian Rupee
is quietly rewriting the rules of cross-border trade. The Reserve Bank of
India's Annual Report 2025-26 (Box V.1) lays out the most comprehensive picture
yet of how far India's currency internationalisation has come — and where it is
headed.Why This Matters: The Strategic Case for INR in Trade
For decades, cross-border trade — even between two non-dollar countries — defaulted to the US Dollar as the intermediary currency. India is now systematically dismantling that dependency, and the benefits are structural and long-lasting:
Exchange Rate Protection — When trade is invoiced and settled in INR (or a bilateral local currency), exporters and importers are shielded from USD volatility. Exchange rate risk stays within the bilateral relationship, where it is easier to hedge.
Reduced Forex Reserve Costs — Maintaining large pools of convertible foreign currency reserves is expensive. An internationalised INR reduces the need for partner countries to hold dollars solely for trade with India.
Bilateral FX Market Development — Direct INR–partner currency exchange markets can develop organically once bilateral trade flows in local currencies are substantial enough. This deepens financial integration without a dollar intermediary.
Lower Transaction Costs — Every forex conversion carries a spread and transaction fee. Invoicing directly in INR or local currencies eliminates at least one conversion leg, reducing friction for traders on both sides.
The Policy Architecture: Five Major Initiatives
The RBI has built a comprehensive and layered policy framework to support INR internationalisation. Box V.1 of the Annual Report identifies five core mechanisms:
a) Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs)
The flagship instrument. Correspondent banks of India's trade partner countries open SRVAs with Authorised Dealer (AD) Category-I banks in India. These accounts hold INR balances that can be used to settle bilateral trade — eliminating the need for dollar clearing in the middle.
As of May 2026, SRVAs have been opened by correspondent banks in 35 partner countries, per the FEDAI SRVA Directory. This is a significant network effect — more countries in the SRVA system means more bilateral trade can bypass dollar intermediation.
b) Local Currency Arrangements (LCAs)
LCAs go a step further: they formalise bilateral agreements allowing trade to be invoiced and settled in **either INR or the trade partner's local currency**. As of May 2026, India has entered into LCAs with four jurisdictions:
| Country / Region | Notes |
| UAE | India's largest trading partner in the Gulf |
| Indonesia | Major emerging market; ASEAN's largest economy |
| Maldives | Strategic partner in the Indian Ocean region |
| Mauritius | Key financial and trade gateway in East Africa |
These LCAs signal
a shift from bilateral goodwill to formal institutional arrangements — a
foundation for deeper monetary cooperation.
c)
INR-Denominated Accounts for Non-Residents
Persons Resident
Outside India (PROIs) are now permitted to open and maintain INR-denominated
accounts with branches of Authorised Dealer banks outside India — for all
permissible current and capital account transactions with Persons Resident in
India (PRIs) and all bona fide transactions with other PROIs. This expands INR
usability beyond India's domestic banking system.
d) Transfer
Between Repatriable Rupee Accounts
Funds can now be
transferred between repatriable Rupee accounts for all bona fide transactions.
This removes friction for non-resident entities managing INR balances across
accounts and jurisdictions — important for treasury and liquidity management.
e) Foreign
Investment from SRVA Balances
SRVA balances are
not just trade settlement tools. Permitted foreign investment into India can
now be made out of SRVA balances — linking trade finance and capital account
activity, and making the Rupee a more complete international currency.
The Numbers:
INR Invoicing and Settlement Data
The proof of
traction is in the data. The RBI reports detailed figures on both INR invoicing (how trade is billed) and INR settlement (how payments are
actually made).
Table 1: INR
Invoicing for India's Trade (₹ crore)
| Trade Flow | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Imports | ₹1,94,162 (3.7%) | ₹2,59,940 (4.5%) | ₹2,84,688 (4.7%) |
| Exports | ₹2,86,794 (5.9%) | ₹3,07,281 (5.9%) | ₹3,27,370 (6.2%) |
Figures in
parentheses = % share of INR in total trade. Exports include goods &
software; imports include goods only.
Export INR
invoicing crossed ₹3.27 lakh crore in 2025-26, growing 6.5% year-on-year.
Import invoicing in INR reached ₹2.85 lakh crore, up 9.5% YoY. The INR share is
rising steadily: from 3.7% to 4.7% on imports, and holding above 6% on exports.
Table 2: INR
Settlement for India's Trade (₹ crore)
| Trade Flow | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Imports | ₹99,680 (1.8%) | ₹1,13,088 (1.9%) | ₹1,59,691 (2.5%) |
| Exports | ₹1,75,086 (3.6%) | ₹1,67,448 (3.2%) | ₹1,71,916 (3.0%) |
Figures in parentheses = % share of INR in total trade.
The settlement
data tells a particularly striking story. Import settlement in INR surged to
₹1,59,691 crore in 2025-26 — a 41.2% year-on-year increase. This is the
standout metric of the year, suggesting that the SRVA infrastructure is now
being meaningfully used for actual payment flows, not just invoicing.
Export settlement
figures were more modest (2.7% YoY growth), likely reflecting the continued
preference of Indian exporters for hard currency receipts — but the direction
of travel is positive.
Growth Trajectory: The Compound View
Looking beyond a single year, the RBI reports compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for the period August 2022 to July 2025:
- INR Import Invoicing CAGR: 20.9%
- INR Export Invoicing CAGR: 12.7%
These are strong, sustained growth rates. The July 2022 launch of the SRVA framework was a watershed moment, and the compounding effect over three years is now clearly visible in the data.
Additional Measures: Deepening the Framework
Beyond the five core policy pillars, the RBI has taken two additional steps that deepen the practical utility of INR internationalisation:
1. Deployment of SRVA Surplus Balances in Corporate Debt
Non-resident banks holding surplus SRVA balances can now deploy them in mutually eligible corporate debt instruments. This is important: it means idle INR balances earn a return, making SRVA maintenance more attractive for correspondent banks and incentivising wider participation.
2. INR Lending to Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
From October 2025, Authorised Dealer banks in India are permitted to lend in INR to persons/banks resident in Bhutan, Nepal, or Sri Lanka for trade transactions. This measure directly addresses the liquidity needs of India's immediate neighbours — making INR-based trade more practical without requiring reciprocal hard-currency arrangements.
As the RBI notes, this is also expected to **reduce dependency on inter-central bank swaps, inter-governmental lines of credit, and special permissions for credit lines — cutting through the bureaucratic and financial overhead of the existing dollar-based architecture.
The Reciprocity Effect: Beyond INR
One of the less-discussed but strategically important dimensions is the reciprocity effect. The RBI notes that India's INR internationalisation process has been "mutually beneficial to all trading partners" and has "given a fillip to trade invoicing in several other emerging market currencies."
This means the momentum is not just about the Rupee. By establishing Local Currency Arrangements and demonstrating that bilateral trade can work without dollar intermediation, India is helping other emerging market pairs explore similar arrangements. The long-term geopolitical and financial implication: a gradual, trade-driven move toward a more multipolar currency system.
What This Means for Businesses and Trade Professionals
For Indian exporters and importers, the practical implications are becoming real:
- Treasury management is now more complex but more flexible — you can manage INR exposures directly without automatic USD conversion.
- Pricing strategy for markets with LCAs (UAE, Indonesia, Maldives, Mauritius) can now incorporate local currency invoicing as a competitive differentiator.
- Banking relationships matter more — not all AD banks have equivalent SRVA correspondent networks; choosing the right bank for cross-border transactions is increasingly strategic.
- Compliance is evolving — the RBI is continuously updating FEMA regulations (FEMA 3R, LRS guidelines, FDI rules) to support the broader framework. Staying current is essential.
Looking Ahead
The structural underpinnings are now in place: SRVAs in 35 countries, LCAs with four jurisdictions, enabling regulations for INR lending and account management, and a growing body of settlement data showing real adoption.The next frontier is likely scale and depth — more LCA partners, higher SRVA utilisation rates, and eventually a meaningful INR share in India's total trade settlement (currently still in low single digits, but growing consistently).
India's currency internationalisation is not a sprint. It is a deliberate, institution-by-institution, agreement-by-agreement process. But the trajectory — as the RBI's own data confirms — is unmistakably upward.
Source: Reserve Bank of India Annual Report 2025-26, Chapter V — Financial Markets and Foreign Exchange Management, Box V.1: Use of INR and Local Currencies for Cross-Border Trade. Data sourced from EDPMS, IDPMS, and FEDAI SRVA Directory.
All figures are subject to updates and corrections as per AD bank reporting.