An Indian newspaper reported on the discussion of accepting Mir cards in

India and RUSSIAagreed to study the possibility of operation of RuPay and Mir cards in each other's countries, as well as to consider the introduction of the Russian financial messaging system in India to replace SWIFT,sources told ET

India and Russia are exploring the possibility of accepting Russian Mir cards and Indian RuPay for payments under the sanctions imposed on Moscow, The Economic Times reports citing sources.

According to them, the parties decided to start studying the issue of mutual acceptance of cards of national payment systems at the recent Indian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC).

In addition, at a meeting co-chaired by Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, it was decided to explore the possibility of interaction between the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of the National Payments Corporation of India and the Faster Payments System (FPS) of the Bank of Russia, as well as to consider the issue of implementation of the Russian financial messaging system (SPFS BR) for cross-border payments, the newspaper's sources said.

Currently, payments from India to Russia and vice versa are made via SWIFT, the newspaper recalls.

The National Payment Card System (NSPK, Mir card operator) refused to comment on RBC information from The Economic Times.

After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Western countries cut off many large Russian banks from SWIFT, and Mastercard and Visa payment systems left the country. In addition, in mid-September last year, the US Treasury threatened foreign banks with sanctions for cooperation with the Russian payment system Mir.

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Previously, the Mir card could be used in addition to Russia in 11 countries - Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, SOUTH KOREA, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. After the statement of the US Treasury, their list disappeared from the website of the payment system.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin reported that Russia is negotiating with the Indian authorities on the use of the Russian Mir payment card. “The unreasonable blocking of all Russian customers by the largest international card payment systems has increased the priority of expanding the geography of using Mir cards. We are actively working in this direction,” he said in August 2022.

The first Mir cards were issued in 2015. Their operator NSPK was created in 2014, after sanctions due to the annexation of Crimea by Russia in case of disconnection of cards of international payment systems. NSPK, on ​​the other hand, processes Visa and Mastercard cards within Russia, which is why they continue to work in the country. According to the Central Bank, at the end of 2021, 113.6 million Mir cards were issued. They account for 25.7% of all card transactions in Russia and 32.5% of new card issuance.