Overcoming the Inflation Transfer: Alternatives to the Dollar Demon?
Sumit Ghosh The recent concerns expressed by our national media regarding payment of Russian oil imports in Chinese Yuan are based upon the enmity of the Indian ruling class with the Chinese counterpart. Such an enmity may superficially seem to foment from border disburbances and entry of counterfeit products in the market but the related geopolitical considerations are much larger in context since India finds China as a major rival against its investment ambitions in Africa [1]. However, the question arises as to why the BJP government, a potential US ally, has adopted the Nehruvian ‘Non-Alignment’ rhetoric at least ‘in principle’ amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. A simple and genuine answer would be – to cease the opportunity of obtaining crude oil from Russia at a steep discount amidst a global oil price surge due to the ongoing war. India experienced a peak inflation rate of 7.79% (April, 2022; the highest in last 8 years) just after the war began in February 2022 but shift ...