Bilateral trade between India and Iran is expected to soon cross the $20-billion mark, up from $15 billion it logged during 2012-13, according to a trade delegation from Iran.
While imports continue to be dominated by oil, both the countries are keen to bring a balance by increasing exports from India, representatives of the delegation said.
The first six months of the current financial year, April to September 2013, Indian exports have gone up to $2.45 billion from $1.45 billion recorded in the same period last year, Rafeeq Ahmed, President of Federation of Indian Export Organisation.
“With UCO Bank opening letters of credit (LCs) close to $0.5 billion on a monthly basis, this will take the exports close to $6 billion. Once the facility of import for re-export is implemented, we may be adding another $2-3 billion to our exports,” he said.
Yahya Ale-es-hagh, President, Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said, “There were some concerns with regard to banking and also visa issues. All these are being addressed and we hope they will be sorted out thereby helping in accelerating trade between the two countries and also expanding the number of goods.”
There is immense scope to boost Indian exports in pharmaceuticals, agriculture produce and mining items, he said.
Mohammed Reza Bakhtiarti, Deputy for International Affairs at the Teheran Chamber, said Iran now is the second largest producer of natural gas and expects to become the largest soon as the available resources indicate.
“The gas availability shows that we have enough gas to supply for 250 years and beyond. India-Iran trade is set to top $20 billion soon,” he said.
S. Chandrasekharan, Executive Director of UCO Bank, said the Ministry of Commerce has initiated several steps to boost and accelerate trade growth. For smoother trade between the two countries, the RBI has approved a rupee payment mechanism which is beneficial to traders.
Representatives from the Iranian delegation and their counterparts see this interactive meet as an opportunity to open up more business channels.