India preparing for Iran oil payments
India is preparing to pay the first installment of outstanding oil payments to Iran ahead of the expected lifting of sanctions against Tehran.
Reuters has quoted informed officials in New Delhi that the government has told refiners to prepare to deposit $700 million with United Commercial Bank in readiness for it to pass on the first installment of oil payments owed to Iran.
India’s Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said last month that payments to Iran can be in a combination of US dollar or euro and Indian rupees.
"It will obviously be partly in dollars, partly in rupee. It could be euro also. Partly hard currency, partly rupee. Exact division is yet to be decided,” Mehrishi said. "It is being worked out."
The refiners -- Essar Oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and HPCL Mittal Energy -- together owe a total of more than $6.6 billion to Iran.
The $700 million part-payment will be split in line of the proportion owed by each.
Last month Reuters reported that Indian refiners were asked to be prepared to pay $1.4 billion to Iran in two equal installments.
Indian refiners together owe Iran more than half of the bill for crude bought since February 2013, when a route to pay for Iranian oil through Turkey's Halkbank was stopped.
Under an interim nuclear deal in November 2013, some of Iran's blocked funds were released by Asian buyers, including India.
Indian companies have deposited 45 percent of their oil payments in a rupee-denominated account at United Commercial Bank, which Iran is allowed to use to buy goods not covered by sanctions, such as food and medicine.
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