India to reduce oil imports from Iran by 15%

India will reduce oil imports from Iran by 15 percent in the current fiscal year, a local official stated on Tuesday. While speaking to the media at the capital, New Delhi, Oil Secretary Vivek Rae said his country was targeting 220,000 barrels per day of oil imports from Iran in the current fiscal year, around 15 percent lower than a year ago. "India wants to buy 11 million tonne crude oil from Iran in the current fiscal, over 15 percent lower than 13.1 million tonnes of oil imported from Iran in 2012/13," Vivek said. Following US and European Union sanctions on Iran to stop its nuclear programme in 2012, India's oil imports from Iran have sharply fallen to 46 percent. Oil imports have been the biggest factor contributing to a record current account deficit leading to low growth in economy. The Indian Prime Minister had already called upon the oil ministry to cut USD 25 billion of imports to lessen the current account deficit (CAD). The deficit has been blamed as the main cause for the shuddering of the Indian economy with the Indian rupee falling to an all-time low last month. According to Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily, India could save as much as USD 8.47 billion by importing oil from Iran and could reduce CAD to a greater degree in order to support the economy