In a session held in the presence of French, German and UK bankers, payment of oil money to Iran via European banks is relatively ‘impossible’.
Several Indian governmental sources announced that India intends to revive a mechanism for oil payments to Iran in rupee.
This decision has been adopted in line with seeking a solution to take distance from economic pressures imposed by US against Tehran.
India is looking to revive a rupee trade mechanism to settle part of its oil payments to Iran, fearing channels to pay Tehran might choke under pressure from US sanctions, a government source said on Friday.
Expediting the formation of a mechanism to withstand US sanctions, India and Iran have discussed various options, including rupee-rial trade, so that bilateral trade between the two countries continues without a blip.
Earlier, Indian foreign minister had said that India does not pay attention to US sanctions imposed on Iran, rather, it is subject to UN sanctions only.
Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier. India's private, as well as public sector, oil refiners are heavily dependent on cheap Iranian crude. Indian refiners bought a record 27.2 million tons of Iranian crude during the last financial year, which ended in March 2018, a whopping 114 percent increase over the previous year.
Some sanctions take effect after a 90-day “wind-down” period ending on Aug. 6, and the rest, notably affecting the petroleum sector, after a 180-day period ending on Nov. 4.
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