India to pay for Iran oil in rupees

India will settle all oil trade including USD 1.53 billion in dues with Iran entirely in rupees after the US-engineered illegal sanctions against Tehran blocked all other payment routes.

According to Press TV, India was paying for 45 percent of its purchases of Iranian crude in euros until February with the money going through Ankara-based Turkish Halkbank. Since then Indian crude oil importers have held on to their payments.
Iran explored taking payments in Russian rouble and other currencies but the routes could not be finalized. After the rupee transactions were left as the only alternative, UCO Bank has been designated as the only Indian institution under the rupee-payment mechanism with Iran.
The Kolkata-based bank is backed by its tie-ups with five Iranian banks which worked on carrying out the process of settlements of dues in April last year.
India imports about 70 percent of its crude oil from abroad.
In June, India along with China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan won a 180-day waiver from the US sanctions against Iran’s energy sector.