A top level meeting involving officials of minsitry of petroleum, ministry of commerce , ministry of finance, Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India is taking place in New Delhi on Thursday to find a viable solution for making payment to Iran for its oil export.
After the meeting, a top level Indian delegation is scheduled to visit Iran for the finalising payment arrangement with the country.
The payment problem has been caused as the the Indian importers are unable to pay either in dollar or in euro after both US and EU have imposed sanctions against Iran for its nucler programme.
However EU had agreed to allow payment from India through euro for only oil and gas with a condition that such payment has to be certified. But the arrengement didn?t work out as none of the authorities are prepared to certify the same. Also earlier, Iran had nominated two West Asian banks through which Indian payment could be channelised to Iran but the banks didn?t agree to provide the service.
Initially, Iran was ready for the payments to be made in Russia?s rouble. But, the US had not agreed to this arrangement.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was also paying money through a German central bank, known as Bundesh Deausteusche Bank (BDB) which was transfering it to the Iranian central bank, Bank Jamhuri Islamia. The trade is done through Asian Clearing Union (ACU), which comprises of countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The meeting comes even as the Persian Gulf country has agreed to selling crude oil to India on credit this month.
?Iran has agreed to sell crude oil on credit this month pending resolution of the gridlock,? a senior official said.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, the nation?s largest importer of Iranian crude oil, and other state refiners Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum will get some 6 million barrels of crude on 60 to 90 days credit. ?This is a stop-gap arrangement. This cannot last long and a permanent solution has to be found,? the official said.
India has asked Iran to identify a panel of banks, which are not under US sanctions, to route payments to National Iranian Oil Co.