Bangladesh, India launch trade in rupees
Bangladesh and India are set to launch settlement of bilateral trade in Indian rupee today in an effort to cut over-dependence on the US dollar for transaction.
This is just the beginning, both Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pranay Verma said as they launched the initiative at an event at Hotel Le Meridien.
Tamim Agro Industries is the first company in Bangladesh to open an export LC worth 16 million rupees. Nita Company Ltd is the first exporter of India that opened 12 million rupees LC.
Initially, Bangladesh's state-owned Sonali Bank Ltd and private Eastern Bank Limited (EBL), and India's State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank are participating in the settlement of trade transactions in rupees.
They will open 'nostro accounts' in the Indian banks in rupees with the approval of the central banks of the two countries to initiate the transaction process.
Indian importers can open letters of credit in those two Indian banks to import goods from Bangladesh in rupees.
Similarly, Bangladeshi importers can open letters of credit in those two selected Bangladeshi banks to import products from India in rupees. The central bank will fix the exchange rate of rupees against taka.
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