TEHRAN – The managing director of India’s UCO Bank says the decline of rupee deposits, that the bank receives from local oil companies buying Iranian crude oil, has been preventing the bank from playing its intermediatory role in trade between the two sides.

Speaking in a meeting hosted by Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) on Saturday, Shri Soma Sankara Prasad said the decline in India’s oil imports from Iran has significantly reduced the volume of rupee deposits that UCO would use to pay Indian firms in return for the services and goods they provide to Iranian companies.

As reported by the ICCIMA portal, both Iranian and Indian traders have recently criticized UCO bank’s performance as the intermediator in settling rupee-rial trade exchanges.

According to Ebrahim Jamili, the head of the Iran-India Joint Chamber of Commerce, although India is claiming to be interested in increasing trade with Iran, the Indian government hasn’t taken any practical steps in this regard.

UCO has been the major Indian banker that tackled the country’s oil trade with Iran even during the sanctions.

Under the framework of the bank’s settlement program, Indian oil importers deposit money at the rupee accounts of Iranian oil exporters maintained at the Kolkata-based bank and the Islamic Republic used that money for making payments to Indian exporters against letters of credit opened by Iranian private banks.

EF/MA

Photo: Head of Iran-India Joint Chamber of Commerce Ebrahim Jalili (C) and Managing Director of UCO Bank Shri Soma Sankara Prasad (R) attend an ICCIMA meeting in Tehran On Saturday.