India pushes Rupee trade settlements to help countries facing forex shortages: Sitharaman

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) India is working to expand trade settlements in rupees and local currencies to help partner countries facing shortages of foreign exchange continue importing essential goods, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. Speaking at an interaction with the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, Sitharaman said the mechanism could help sustain trade with countries that struggle to access hard currencies despite their import requirements. She said India wanted payments for goods exported to such countries to be settled in rupees, enabling it to maintain trade flows without…