By NNN-Agencies,
New Delhi : As Western sanctions squeeze Iran and its currency tumbles, the country’s energy minister worked Wednesday to woo Indian businesses to invest in the beleaguered Iranian economy.
Majid Namjoo told a meeting of Indian business leaders that there were huge opportunities to do business with Iran’s private sector that remains largely unaffected by sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Namjoo is on a four-day visit to India where he is meeting with government ministers and business leaders to explore the possibilities of trade and joint ventures in renewable energy, power, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food processing.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Iran to deter it from pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Energy-starved India remains one of Iran’s biggest oil importers and has been actively searching for investment deals with the country as an ad hoc barter arrangement to pay its oil bills.
India imports around 70 per cent of its oil needs, of which around 11 per cent are from Iran. However, India has been facing enormous problems over payments for the Iranian oil.
New Delhi initially channeled payments through German-based Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank. But after the sanctions kicked in, the two countries moved to Turkey’s Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS to facilitate payments.
That channel too may become inoperable after EU intervention. In February, Iran and India reached an agreement under which India would pay for 45 percent of oil supplies in Indian rupees, with the rest to be settled through a barter arrangement in goods and services.