Iran's central bank has opened an account with India's government-run UCO Bank to receive payment for as much as 45 percent of its crude exports to the South Asian nation in rupees, Bloomberg reported citing the Financial Chronicle newspaper.
According to Financial Chronicle, the account may start operating in two months.
It will amount to about $5.4 billion per year, assuming the country imports a total $12 billion of oil annually, according to the report.
The newspaper also states that the Indian government plans to take a delegation of engineering companies to Iran to explore opportunities for exports to the country.
Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India Aman Chadha told the Financial Chronicle that the exports would be in industries such as power, railways and infrastructure that aren't under sanctions.
Earlier reports indicate the same, as Reuters reported India plans to send a business delegation to Tehran in late February to explore how it can increase exports in order to meet payments for Iranian oil, a senior Indian official said on Thursday.
India Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also announced on Sunday that his country will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran.
Iran's Central Bank is having hard times, with U.S. president Barack Obama expanding the sanctions against the Iranian government and country's Central Bank as well.
In an executive order signed Sunday, Obama froze all the assets and property in the United States of the Iranian government, financial institutions and the Central Bank of Iran.
He pointed to "the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks" as warranting additional sanctions.
Edited by: S. Isayev
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