Two Indian petrochemical companies have paid $750 million to their Iranian partners, having therefore partly repaid India's multibillion debt to Iran for oil supply, Indian media reported Saturday.
According to the Press Trust of India news agency, transactions in euros were made over the past two days. The Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals company together with Indian Oil Corporation have paid $500 and $250 million, respectively, to National Iranian Oil Company.
India remains the world's largest importer of Iranian oil. The Indian companies accumulated the $6.5-billion debt to Iran over the past three years due to financial sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.
Despite the lifting of sanctions against Iran earlier in the year, the problem is still far from being solved, as no transactions in US dollars are possible so far, so the sides have to look for another ways to conduct payments.
The issue of the debt repayment for oil supply from Iran is likely to be one of the main topics on the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tehran on May 22-23.