Russia’s Alfa Bank To Open A Representative Office In India

Alfa Bank is to open an office in India, the Russian lender’s deputy CEO, Pavel Vysotsky as said. “We see that it is necessary to open a large network of Russian banks and representative offices in India and expand the existing presence there. Alfa Bank is no exception in this regard, and we have such plans, to open a representative office in India,” Vysotsky said at the Eastern Economic Forum.

Alfa bank also opened two branches in China, in Beijing and Shanghai last year.

Alfa Bank is Russia’s fourth largest bank by assets, and reported a value of US$83 billion in its last statement at the end of August. The bank has been under EU and US sanctions since 2022, which have prohibited correspondent party banking relations. Alfa Bank’s, India representative office will not conduct direct banking transactions, but will act as a liaison between its clients in Russia and the Indian financial services market, as well as vice-versa.

Both Moscow and New Delhi have been keen to address the balance of trade issue between the two countries, as India purchases far more from Russia, mainly in energy imports, than vice-versa. This has led to Russia holding billions of dollars worth of Indian rupees it is finding hard to disperse. As a result, new trade corridors have been developing between the two countries, and especially to encourage Indian exports to Russia are being instigated – Alfa Bank’s move will assist in part in alleviating this problem. Moscow has also been investing some of its Indian Rupees holdings back into Indian infrastructure and government bonds where it can at least generate longer term cash flow income from returns on these investments.