3 min readMumbaiJan 20, 2011 01:15 AM IST
First published on: Jan 20, 2011 at 01:15 AM IST
Even as the possibility of settling Indo- Iran trade payments in other currencies than dollar or euro has failed to materialise,both the countries are now exploring opportunities to opt for local currencies to sort out the payment problems.
The payment problem has hit the Indo-Iran trade as the earlier mechanism of paying in dollar or Euro through Asian Clearing Union ACU has been discontinued after US and EU slapped sanction against Iran for its nuclear programme.
Last week,a top level Indian delegation led by Rakesh Singh,additional secretary,ministry of finance had visited Iran to fix the problem by developing an alternative mechanism where another bank can be identified by both the countries to channelise the payment. Earlier Iran had chosen a West Asian bank for this purpose but the bank refused to assume the role to channelise the Indo-Iran trade proceeds.
However fresh discussion between the countries at Teheran last week had also failed to develop the alternative mechanism. Consequently rupee is being looked as the only way out to settle the payments between the two countries. A senior official of SBI who is in the know of the things said the ball is in the government court now to approve the new mechanism.
Suppose rupee is selected as the currency to settle the dues with the Irans respective currency,then we will need a government guarantee for the same, said the SBI official.
Meanwhile,petroleum secretary S Sundareshan said on Wednesday that India would finalise the routing of payments for crude oil imports from Iran in the next few days and that there is no possibility of supplies from the West Asian nation getting disrupted.
A team of 17 people have visited Iran to find a solution. Pending resolution,there will be no disturbance in supplies as Iran will continue to supply oil on the basis of the guarantees given by the companies. In the next few days,specific routing of funds for oil imports from Iran will be finalised, Sundareshan said.
While India import oil as a major item from Iran,Iran imports things like handicraft,diamond,tea,clothes and leather goods from India India buys about 16 of its imported oil from Iran.
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