According to the report by the IME’s International Affairs and PR, the MoU was signed to facilitate commodity transactions between the two countries through a joint trading platform between the Iranian and Indian commodity exchanges. Today, in the first phase of this memorandum, a possibility to show the discovered prices of bitumen on the two exchange’s boards is provided directly through the Web service.

In line with that, 2,000 tonnes of bitumen produced by Jey Oil Refining Co. was offered to the Indian traders via the Web service, and 1,000 tonnes of this Iranian products was bought by Indian merchants.

During the ceremony of signing the MoU between IME and NCDEX, Hamed Soltaninejad, CEO of IME stated that we came up with the idea as we constantly received complaints from Indian merchants as to the manipulated and low quality bitumen they imported from Iran, while Iranian bitumen is one the highest quality types of bitumen all over the world.

He added that IME and NCDEX are trying to establish a joint platform to make it possible for end-users to receive high quality bitumen via eliminating unnecessary middlemen. As the first phases IME is collaborating with NeML, which the subsidiary spot market of NCDEX to provide Indians with the opportunity of buying Iranian bitumen with guaranteed quality via the cross-linkage created between the two markets and to also gives Iranians the chance to buy agricultural products, like rice, from India. This way, both sides will enjoy the merits of buying via exchanges which include fair price and guaranteed quality with systematic procedures of settlement and delivery.

 Today, IME and NCDEX are going to sign an MOU to lay the first bricks of this platform which will bridge the gap between the real suppliers and real buyers from both sides. 31st of October is only a start: the two exchanges will go on with this project buy listing more commodities rather that bitumen and rice.  We will also move from physical trading to risk exposure and launching derivatives contracts on various commodities in the not too distant future.

Today, global trading platforms are getting involved in mutual trades; IME and NCDEX are no exception. We are working towards connecting our markets to enhance efficiency and harmony.

I hope today will mark a turning point in the history of the Indo-Iranian business ties and facilitate trade of essential commodities to the benefit of end-users from both sides.

Rajesh Sinha, CEO of NeML, stated that the MoU is the beginning of a relationship with IME, and after practical operation of this web service, we will launch a complete joint platform.

He added that India imports a large volume of bitumen from Iran, and imports food products such as rice to Iran, which I hope we will soon be able to import and export commodities through a joint trading platform and with a guaranteed price and quality through the two commodity exchanges.