India, Nigeria agree on local currency settlement system

The second session of the India-Nigeria Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, on Friday, agreed to finalise a local currency settlement system for bilateral trade and investment. 

India’s official delegation, which included officials from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) agreed on an early conclusion of the local currency settlement system to further strengthen bilateral economic ties.

Besides, Nigeria will be launching India-developed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as part of the efforts to bolster bilateral engagement.

Official delegation from India consisted of officials from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), EXIM Bank of India and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 

The two sides identified focus areas for enhancing bilateral trade and investment and agreed to resolve market access issues in a mutually beneficial way. 

The areas identified for increased cooperation include crude oil and natural gas, pharmaceuticals, digital infrastructure (including Unified Payments Interface (UPI)), trading in local currency, electricity, including renewable power, agriculture and food processing, education, transport (including railway and aviation), MSMEs, as also overall economic development.

The officials of both sides actively discussed ways for expanding bilateral economic engagement with both sides enthusiastically responding to discussions over pending issues, boosting trade and investment and enhancing people to people contacts.

A CII delegation comprising representatives from sectors such as power, fintech, telecommunications, electrical machinery, pharmaceuticals, etc accompanied the official delegation. 

Nigeria is India’s second largest trading partner in the African region with $11.8 billion in bilateral trade in the 2022-23 financial year. However, trade between the two countries declined to $7.89 billion in 2023-24. 

At present about 135 Indian companies are active in the Nigerian market, with total investments of $27 billion across sectors including consumer goods, manufacturing, infrastructure and services.