Rupee payment mechanism to bolster India's trade with Iran: TPCI

New Delhi: The rupee payment mechanism will help bolster India's trade with Iran, notwithstanding the sanctions imposed by the US on the Western Asian nation, the Trade Promotion Council of India said Wednesday.

"Trade in rupee through Vostro account of UCO Bank could retain the current trade and may even get a boost if India eyes this opportunity judiciously and uses the trade gap to focus on exporting products that Iran requires, some of which it was importing from other countries who have not entered into a Vostro-like deal with Iran and who have fallen to the pressure to restrict their trade with Iran," TPCI said in a statement.

TPCI is a body supported by the Ministry of Commerce.

The bold steps taken by India with respect to Iran and Russia will not only boost India's image as a neutral player in world trade. Trading in rupee can well be a new route of trade, outside dependence on the US dollar," TPCI Chairman Mohit Singla said.

India found a way of coming out of dollar payment and paying Iran in rupees for the oil it bought when sanctions were enforced on Iran prior to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, signed between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Vienna on July 14, 2015.