Rupee an option to pay for Iran oil imports: India's central bank

New Delhi, Jan 30 (PTI) With fresh US sanctions targeting Iran's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering rupee as an option to pay for the crude oil India imports from the Persian Gulf country. "Oil imports are continuing, there are different (payment) options which are being evaluated and discussed. We are also considering rupee as an option," RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan told reporters here Monday. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said during the weekend in Chicago that India, which imports its 12 per cent crude requirement from Iran, will not scale down its petroleum imports from Tehran despite US and European sanctions against the Islamic republic. India at present pays Iran about USD 1.0 billion every month through Turkey for the 370,000 barrels per day of crude oil it buys from the world's fourth largest oil producer. Khan said as of now there is no disruption in the current payment arrangement. "It is continuing and hope it will continue," he said. US President Barack Obama signed a Bill into law late last month empowering US authorities to impose penalties on banks dealing with the Central Bank of Iran to settle oil import payments. A senior India government official said that there are indications from Turkey's state-run Halkbank that it would have to stop settling payments on behalf of Indian companies. Recently, a multi-disciplinary team from India had visited Tehran to discuss the payment issues following the fresh US sanctions. Routing payments through Russia was discussed during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Moscow last month. But Russia is not keen due to the "complexities" involved. PTI