Rupee payment mechanism with Iran working well amid

The coronavirus outbreak in Iran has not impacted India's rupee payment mechanism with the Persian Gulf nation and it is "going on well", a senior official of UCO Bank said on Saturday.

India had entered into an agreement with Iran for carrying out trade-related transactions through a rupee account maintained with the state-owned lender, he said.

"There is no problem with the rupee account and it is going on well. Due to reduced imports at present, no new amount is being deposited into the account. We are using whatever balance is available with the account," the official told PTI.

As per the mechanism, Indian importers deposit payments in rupee in the 'vostro' account of Iranian banks, maintained with the Indian state-owned lender UCO Bank for imports including crude oil, the official said.

The account is also used to make payments to Indian exporters for sending goods to Iran, he said.

The payments are being settled on daily basis, he said.

To a query on why the amount in the account has gone down, the official said, "this is due to reduced imports and has got no link with the coronavirus outbreak, which affected Iran to a great extent".