Online meeting of representatives of banking systems of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of India

The heads of structural subdivisions of National Bank of Tajikistan and credit financial institutions of the country held online meeting with the Senior Advisor on corporate and international banking, Association of India banks Mr. V. Chandrasekhar on November 4, this year.

Also representatives of a number of banks of the Republic of India including state-owned, private banks, representative offices of foreign banks operating in the Republic of Tajikistan and representatives of the Reserve Bank of India, which is considered the regulatory bank in this country, have attended the meeting.

At the beginning of meeting, the responsible representative of National Bank of Tajikistan expressed his gratitude to the Association of Banks of India for arranging and holding this meeting with representatives of banks of the Republic of India and briefly addressed the meeting about the banking system situation of the Republic of Tajikistan.

It was noted that over the period after the COVID -19 pandemic, the country's economy, including banking system, is gradually recovering and it is in a satisfactory condition, and compared to the same period of 2021, the assets of credit financial institutions increased by 19.9%, the balance sheet capital of credit financial institutions by 25.9%, other key financial indicators also improved.

During the meeting, it was noted that the National Bank of Tajikistan is interested in developing relations in the banking system with India, including the establishing correspondent relations between commercial banks of two countries, opening correspondent accounts in banks of the Republic of India, developing bilateral relations in field of payment system. Also the issue of possibility of establishing representative offices of the Republic of India in the Republic of Tajikistan was considered in the meeting.

It was also noted that the expansion of reliable ties with Indian banks, the increase in trade turnover between our countries over the past few years, taking into account the developed banking system of the Republic of India and its best practices, requires appropriate measures for strengthening interbank relations, increasing the volume of trade between Tajikistan and India.

Mr.V.Chandrasekhar, Senior Advisor on corporate and international banking of the Association of Banks of India, informed the participants in detail about the banking system situation in India. He noted that banks in India, including the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Union Bank are connected to the international SWIFT system and can carry out advanced international banking. In addition, Indian banks provide services in the areas of correspondent communications, payment services, trade finance services, money transfers and are ready to start cooperation with credit financial institutions of the Republic of Tajikistan.

In this regard, representatives of credit financial institutions of Tajikistan have showed their interest in establishing cooperation with banks in India, and noted that the banks of the Tajik side had already taken the first step in this direction and sent a request to banks in India to open correspondent accounts.

In response to the stated requests and proposals, representatives of Indian banks also expressed their readiness to establish cooperation with banks in Tajikistan and consider their requests for opening correspondent accounts.
It should be noted that during the meeting the issues of opening correspondent accounts using the national currency of two countries were also considered. In this regard, it was noted that the implementation of mutual settlements in the national currency can lead to an acceleration of process of making payments.

In the final part of the meeting, the parties agreed that in order to continuously increase cooperation between the banking systems of India and Tajikistan, credit financial institutions of the Republic of Tajikistan need to send their requests for opening correspondent accounts to the National Bank of Tajikistan for their further sending to the Indian side through the embassy of this country in Tajikistan.

Press Division
NBT