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Journalism of Courage
Iran’s relationship with India may have been hit by hiccups in recent years ver its nuclear programme but that has not stopped Tehran from sending one of its biggest business delegations to Mumbai next week to woo Indian industry.
A 40-member team, including three Deputy Ministers, heads of Iranian business associations and industrialists, will be here from March 4 to 7 to explore joint venture opportunities, attract investments and showcase a country that has become a pariah for many nations around the world.
The visitors will take part in a day-long seminar on opportunities and advantages for trade between the two countries, where speakers include G P Hinduja, President of the Hinduja Group, and Ranjit Shahani, President of Novartis India Ltd.
The team will be in Mumbai close on the heels of a visit to New Delhi by Iranian Economy and Finance Minister Danesh Jafari in January and that of a 12-member Confederation of Indian Industry delegation to Tehran last month to boost business links.
“This is one of our best business delegations to this part of the world, both in terms of quality and size,” an Iranian diplomat told The Sunday Express. “There are many opportunities for India in Iran, ranging from mining to petrochemicals and electricity to dry fruits.”
Indian industrialists and External Affairs Ministry officials said it was not just the Iranians who are keen to forge stronger business links with India. The desire was mutual and business was quietly prospering despite the unhappiness of New Delhi’s new friends in Washington, they said.
“There are tremendous business opportunities in Iran but there is a lack of awareness,” said Vijay G. Kalantri, President of the All India Association of Industries, one of the organisers of Wednesday’s seminar.
“They are located very strategically, prices are very competitive and they are very keen to develop relations.”
Some analysts say that Iran badly needs to build such relations as it seeks to integrate its economy with the rest of the world but is handicapped by US and UN sanctions over its nuclear ambitions.
Western diplomats have in recent months said that the sanctions have begun to hurt Iran and estimates have put unemployment at a high of 10 percent and inflation at 19 percent. Soaring oil prices have been the only saving grace for the country which holds the world’s second-largest reserves of oil and natural gas.
Although this presents a good opportunity to boost trade between India and Iran — which jumped from $433 million in 2000-01 to $2.3 billion in 2006-07 for items excluding oil and petroleum products — some Indian industrialists said they were apprehensive due to the political uncertainties involving Tehran.
India’s growing closeness to the United States has meant that the UPA government voted against Tehran at the UN, scrapped over a mega deal for LNG, struggles to seal the Iran- Pakistan-India gas pipeline and has invited the ire of Tehran for launching an Israeli satellite that can spy on Iran.
Besides, there are also examples of Reliance stopping selling gasoline and diesel to Iran last year after French banks stopped offering credit on the deals and Essar Group backed away from developing a new oil refinery in Iran to avoid violating US sanctions and trouble for a steel company it bought in Minnesota.
“Those who are already dealing with America do not want to do business with Iran,” said one Indian industrialist who did not want to be identified.
A senior South Block official echoed that, saying “individual companies would have to take their own call due to US sanctions on Iran and how that would affect them”.
“But there are a lot of complementarities in our economies and it is not as if our political relations are not doing well,” the official said. “Things can’t be perfect and there will always be minor issues with most countries but that doesn’t mean we don’t do business with them.”
