Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 12 /Trend, N. Umid/
Iran's imports from India has increased by 151.28 percent, stood at $1.937 billions during the first six months of the current solar year (started on March21), the website of the Islamic republic of Iran customs administrations (IRICA) reported.
Iran imported $771 millions worth of goods from India during the same period of the last year.
Iran cannot transfer the money from oil sales to the country due to international sanctions which target the Central Bank of Iran as well as its national currency, the Rial.
Currently it is almost impossible for money to flow in and out of Iran via official bank channels. Iran tries to barter its crude oil by Indian goods for bypassing the sanctions.
In May, Iranian media outlets quoted Iranian Trade Promotion Organization deputy director Reza Tofigii as saying Iranian and Indian officials have reached agreement to barter Iranian crude oil for Indian textile machinery.
India is looking to broaden its range of exports to Iran to help balance bilateral trade under an agreement that allows the countries to bypass Western sanctions, Indian industry and government officials said.
Last year, India and Iran entered into an agreement in which India would pay for about half of its crude oil imports from the Middle Eastern country in Indian rupees instead of U.S. dollars. The move followed U.S. sanctions that have shut down the global financial system for Iranian crude trade.
The value of India's exports to Iran is far lower than the value of its imports. India exported $2.95 billion worth of goods to Iran last year, while its imports from Iran totaled around $11 billion.
Iran was India's second biggest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia in 2010-11. However, during 2012-13, it supplied only 13.1 million tones, lagging behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Venezuela, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
In 2011-12, Iran stood third with 18.1 million tones, against 32.5 million tones from Saudi Arabia and 24.1 million tones from Iraq.
In 2009-10, it supplied 21.2 million tones; in 2012-13, supplies accounted for 7.2 per cent of oil imports, down from 10.5 per cent during 2011-12.