India, Feb. 3 -- India's steady efforts to shift to pay off energy imports in exchange for the Rupee can be understood as a determined move towards the internationalisation of the national currency. It is not to replace the all-pervasive dollar. It is to enter into a competition, hitherto unexplored, through dynamic diplomacy.

Last July India signed an agreement with the UAE for rupee settlement in exchange for crude imports. Soon after Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) made payments for the purchase of a million barrels of crude oil from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in Rupee. By doing that it was 'Bharat' that was active, and not 'India', because the change towards making Indian currency in a proactive position in the international...