Vostro means yours, not ours.

In January, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Shaktikanta Das said, "Crypto is a form of gambling without any underlying value and is nothing but a 100 percent speculation world." And so "crypto should be banned, given its no underlying value in the market". Investors may disagree. They may see it as a store of wealth given that high inflation and negative real interest rate in India mean that the rupee is sure to drop in value against other major currencies. "US-led international sanctions on Russia have begun to erode the dollar's decades-old dominance of international oil trade as most deals with India - Russia's top outlet for seaborne crude - have been settled in other currencies." Reuters. Are we paying in rupees? Not really, as "Indian customers have paid for most Russian oil in non-dollar currencies, including United Arab Emirates dirham and more recently the Russian rouble, multiple oil trading and banking sources said." "In what is clearly an indication of India's rising prominence on the global stage, the Indian Rupee (INR) has now been accepted by 18 countries from across the globe for transactions." TN. "According to the details shared by the government, the full list of countries that accept payments in INR include - Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda and the United Kingdom." Does this mean that the rupee is now a free and international currency? Not really. Capital account convertibility "is the ease with which a country's currency can be converted into gold or another currency through global exchanges." Investopedia. In October 2021, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said that, "India is on the verge of achieving its long standing target of capital account convertibility." NDTV. The fear is that, "When we embrace full convertibility, as canvassed by the RBI deputy governor, anyone can do pretty much what she pleases," wrote S Murlidharan. "The worry could be that Indian residents might dump the INR in favor of the greenback." So, how are countries like the United Kingdom and Germany accepting payments in Indian rupees? And why only 18 countries if the rupee is free to trade? Actually, "Several banks, including HDFC Bank and UCO Bank, have opened as many as 30 special vostro (meaning yours) accounts as of date to facilitate overseas trade in the rupee, a top government official said." BS. To simplify the jargon, vostro accounts are special arrangements between Indian banks and banks in these 18 countries in which Indian companies pay for imports in INR which are then converted to the receiving country's currency at market rates and India exporters receive payment in INR through that account. TOI. In effect, it bypasses the dollar, thus reducing the effect of sanctions, preserves foreign currency reserves and saves on costs of currency exchanges. As for gambling, there are two casinos in Sikkim and ten in Goa. wikipedia. And there are no laws against online gambling in India. India Legal. Perhaps, Governor Das is not worried about Indians losing money through gambling. Perhaps, he is worried about Indians converting their rupees into dollars through cryptocurrencies. Which will reduce his control of the exchange rate. Why dissemble?