India exports to Iran increased by 40 percent in 2012

Indian trade analysts expect exports to Iran to increase by about six billion dollars in the current fiscal year, which began in April, as New Delhi makes a number of changes in its policies to encourage exports to the Islamic Republic.

“India did not bend to America on Oil [sanctions] from Iran, if we can make some concessions yes,… we serve our own interest, our interest means that one refinery functions on Iran oil…, “ Mohan Guruswamy, an Indian political analyst said in an interview with a Press TV correspondent on Saturday.

Last month, India along with China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Taiwan won a 180-day waiver from the US sanctions targeting oil trade with Iran.

India is among Asia’s major importers of energy, and relies on the Islamic Republic of Iran to satisfy a portion of its energy requirements.

India’s exports include rice, cereals, pharmaceutical products, machine tools, automobile parts and steel. Rice and textile exports have witnessed the biggest increase during the past year.

On May 4, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid have signed four Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to expand cooperation between the two countries.

The West, led by the United States, has imposed a series of sanctions on the Islamic Republic on the pretext that Iran may be pursuing a military program under the cover of its nuclear energy activities.

Iran rejects the allegation, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes./HK