New Delhi: The Centre had given nod to the proposal from Iranian private lender Bank Pasargad to open a branch in Mumbai. The move came just weeks before US sanctions on Iran begin. The Finance Ministry told the RBI that it has no objection permitting the Tehran-based Bank Pasargad to open its branch in India.
It must be noted that the US has announced sanctions that will start from August 6 and asked other countries to minimise oil purchases from Iran.
According to sources, 14 foreign banks had applied to the RBI last year to open branches across the country apart from the Iranian bank. While the Centre has approved South Korean KEB Hana Bank’s proposal to open its second branch in Gurugram and Kookmin Bank’s request to convert its representative office in Gurugram into a branch, it rejected an application from Malaysia’s Maybank to open a branch in India for the second time.