India cuts crude import from Iran to escape US sanctions.

India, along with six other countries, has been exempted by the US for new tough financial sanctions, on significant reduction in import of crude s from Iran. Of India's total crude imports, Iran's share dropped from over 16% in 2008-09 to almost 10% in 2011-12.

The government has tried to downplay the drop in crude imports from Iran by stating that the exemption was a decision taken by the Obama administration and assured that the crude imports from Iran will continue.

Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, RPN Singh comments, "We are not going to cut down our imports from any country which does not face a UN sanction. We will continue to import oil from across the globe to fulfill our energy needs. We will continue to import oil from Iran."

The decision to exempt select nations on reduced crude import from Iran was announced on Monday by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton hours before external affairs minister SM Krishna arrived in Washington to co-chair the third India-US Strategic Dialogue.

In her statement, Clinton said as a result of her determination, she will report to the Congress that relevant sanctions will not apply to financial institutions of these countries. "We have implemented these sanctions to support our efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to encourage Iran to comply with its international obligations," she said.

Source : moneycontrol.com