Nikhil Kamath, CIO and co-founder at financial services firm Zerodha, has tweeted about the Indian government's decision to stay neutral during the current Ukraine-Russia conflict, and has warned that the incident may threaten the US Dollar's hegemony as the global reserve currency.
Kamath said, "Russian sanctions could be expediting a switch away from the US dollar as the global reserve currency," and that the "Indian govt is spot on by not taking sides."
Kamath also mentioned in passing that American controls on printing dollars may have contributed to the rise in cryptocurrency's growing popularity.
These comments come in the wake of American pressure on nations across the globe to sanction Russian oil and gas imports in a bid to stall Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.
Sridhar Vembu, CEO of bootstrapped SaaS startup Zoho, had earlier this month tweeted "US elite don't seem to realise issuing orders and ultimatums to friendly nations - one as large as India! - may not be the best way to win friends and influence people."
Earlier today, Reuters reported a source in the US government who said that Washington D.C. would tolerate countries that bought similar or slightly increased volumes of oil from Russia during the crisis at a highly subsidised rate.
However, if any countries threatened the Western sanction on Russia, they would be "exposing themselves to great risk." In the past month, US politicians and commentators have repeatedly called out India for considering new trade deals with Russia.
In 2021, India purchased 16 million barrels of oil from Russia. New Delhi has already bought 13 million barrels of oil this year as Moscow continues to look for trade partners to overcome its sanctions.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti