The renminbi has risen rapidly as an international currency but data on India's use of it in payments to China and Hong Kong show the US dollar remains number one.

India's use of China's renminbi currency to make payments with the latter country and Hong Kong is rising but India still has one of the lowest renminbi adoptation rates in the whole Asian region, ranking at 38th, according to figures from global payment settlements network SWIFT.

In April 2016, only 3.8 per cent of all payments made between India and mainland China/Hong Kong were exchanged in renminbi, although this was only 0.2 per cent in April 2014. Since 2014, the Chinese currency moved from position number six to position four for payments by value, overtaking the Hong Kong dollar and the British pound sterling, SWIFT said. The dollar, however, continues to lead the corridor with a share of almost 80 per cent, followed by the Indian rupee (7.2 per cent) and the euro (6.3 per cent).

There has been considerable talk about the rise of the renminbi as a global reserve currency; there are more renminbi-denominated funds on offer, for example, and China has been opening its capital and investment markets to encourage holdings in its currency. The SWIFT data, however, shows the ascent of the Chinese currency is still relatively young.

"China has emerged over the last decade to become India's largest trading partner," said Michael Moon, head of payments, Asia-Pacific at SWIFT. "As a result, renminbi adoption is slowly gaining traction for payments between India and China. Over time, and in line with the growing importance of this emerging trade corridor, we expect to see greater use of the renminbi between these two countries."

Earlier this year, SWIFT and nine Indian banks launched SWIFT India, a joint venture that provides a domestic financial messaging service for Indian banks, global banks, securities houses and corporates.

In April 2016, the renminbi fell to sixth position among global payments currencies by value with a share of 1.82 per cent. The renminbi is now trailing the Canadian dollar with a share of 1.83 per cent, leaving a minor gap between the two currencies. Overall, renminbi payments value decreased by 7.73 per cent compared to March 2016 , whilst in general all payments currencies decreased by 4.60 per cent.