Western announcements about cutting Russian large banks from the Swift payment system are opportunities for India and China to spread their customary systems they have prepared for possibilities.
A parliamentary committee also noted that Swift privacy was compromised and, before the crisis exploded, had suggested the government to increase existing SFMS (structured financial message shipping solutions) to transfer intra-bank messages or develop new ones.
North Korea and Iran are other countries that have been cut off from Swift. Russia internally using the SPFS system, developed after the West threatened to cut it from the Swift system in 2015. For the flow of international financial information, China will also plan to use the CIPS system which is a cross-border payment system in its local currency.
While credit in rupees or rubles can increase, sources say New Delhi’s efforts will remain clean by encouraging Russia to import more Indian goods whose other sources may be blocked due to US-led sanctions.