Vostro Accounts Approved by RBI

Current Context: The Reserve Bank of India approved the opening of nine special Vostro accounts to promote overseas trade in Indian rupees.

• The RBI approved the opening of 9 Vostro accounts with:

1. UCO Bank
2. IndusInd Bank

• This was done in line with the recently released guidelines of the RBI for “International Trade Settlement in Indian Rupees”.
• An amendment in the foreign trade policy was done by the Government of India to facilitate trade through this route that allowed exporters to avail of duty rebates or incentives for settling trade in rupee terms.
• Nine banks that have opened special Vostro accounts are:

1. Sberbank (Russia)
2. VTB Bank (Russia)
3. Gazprombank (Russia)
4. 6 other Russian banks

• A type of bank account that a bank holds for another bank for correspondent banking is termed a Vostro account.

Question:

Q.1 Recently ______ approved the opening of nine special Vostro accounts to promote overseas trade in Indian rupees.
a. RBI
b. SEBI
c. NABARD
d. SIDBI