“Given India’s significant trade flows to/from its partner countries and the growing interest among the global trading community to trade in the Indian rupee, our banking regulators, i.e. the Reserve Bank of India, have considered allowing Indian banks to facilitate the settlement of exports and imports of their respective corporate clients in INR. Israel has been identified as one of the partner countries under this mechanism,” SBI Israel CEO V Manivannan told PTI.
Israeli entities carrying out exports/imports through this mechanism will receive and make payments in INR, which will be credited to the Special Rupee Vostro Account (SRVA), against invoices for the supply/purchase of goods or services from the Israeli seller/buyer, the SBI Director said.
“SBI Tel Aviv has all necessary approvals to facilitate these transactions,” he added.
The SBI department recently held several meetings and organized webinars in collaboration with the Israeli Indian Chamber of Commerce to promote rupee trading. It has also included most of Israel’s major defense entities in these discussions.
With over 40,000 Indian employees recently joining the Israeli workforce, SBI also aims to ease the flow of remittances to India by facilitating the opening of their NRI accounts in India at its Tel Aviv branch.
“There has been an influx of Indian workers into the Israeli labor market, especially in construction and agriculture. SBI Tel Aviv is now facilitating services for the Indian diaspora by connecting them to the NRI accounts facility on the Indian side and exploring collaboration with fintech and local banks to facilitate their INR remittance activities,” Manivannan said.
SBI opened its branch in Israel in 2007 and has since managed to maintain a full-fledged operation, demonstrating resilience in the face of the pandemic and more than two years of unrest in the region due to the ongoing war.
It has a presence in 29 countries through 241 points of presence outside India.
Located in the Diamond Exchange in Ramat-Gan, next to Tel Aviv, the SBI branch caters to local companies offering trade finance, bank guarantees for India-related projects, corporate accounts and related activities.
“As India-Israel cooperation increases, the facility is already acting as a bridge to facilitate operations. With SBI’s extensive global network (across all time zones and correspondent relationships around the world), the support of SBI Treasury and the connection to India, this provides a unique capability and reach for local companies doing business in India or any other part of the world,” the SBI CEO noted.
The branch aims to further strengthen its connection with its current and potential customer base and be a trusted partner in their business endeavors, the director added.
The push for rupee trade comes at a time when both countries are making efforts to realize the full potential of economic cooperation.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Israel in December after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit in November.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi last month, and the two leaders “agreed to meet very soon.”
Israeli Tourism Minister Haim Katz, Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, Agriculture and Food Safety Minister Avi Dichter, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited India in 2025 as the strategic partners built momentum to sign a free trade agreement.
The two countries signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) during Smotrich’s visit to India, and a Free Trade Agreement Reference Framework was signed during Goyal’s visit to Israel. HM HVA
Published on January 5, 2026
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