<div>India could save $8.5 billion in foreign exchange spending on crude oil imports in 2013-14 if it relied more on supplies from Iran, which is able to accept payment in rupees, Oil Minister M. Veerappa Moily said.</div><div> </div><div>In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spelling out a strategy to curb foreign exchange outflow against a backdrop of a weak currency, Moily said India was likely to import about 13 million tonnes of oil from Iran in 2013-14.</div><div> </div><div>It has already imported 2 million tonnes so far in the fiscal year that began in April.</div><div> </div><div>"An additional import of 11 million tonnes during 2013-14 would result in reduction in forex outflow by $8.47 billion (considering the international price of crude oil at $105 per barrel)," the letter, seen by Reuters, said.</div><div> </div><div>The minister said total savings from a number of measures in the energy sector could be in the region of $20 billion.</div><div> </div><div>Moily's proposal chimes with the government's eagerness to boost imports from Tehran to help prop up the rupee, which saw its biggest monthly fall in at least 18 years in August.</div><div> </div><div>U.S. and EU sanctions placed on Iran over its nuclear programme have reduced its oil exports more than half from pre-sanction levels of about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd).</div><div> </div><div>In the first half of 2013, imports of Iranian oil from its four biggest buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - fell more than a fifth from a year ago to around 960,000 bpd.</div><div> </div><div>The U.S. and European Union sanctions have pushed Tehran into accepting payment in rupees for some of its oil, and higher volumes could support the Indian currency.</div><div> </div><div>"Within the UN sanctions and fully complying with the sanctions, there may be more space for imports from Iran," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in August.</div><div> </div><div>In the first seven months of this year, India's imports from Iran have declined 46 percent from the same period last year to about 185,700 bpd, a trade data showed.</div><div> </div><div>India imported nearly 58 percent more oil from Latin America in the January to July period as its Iranian shipments dropped.</div><div> </div><div>Overall, Asia's third-largest economy shipped in 14.1 percent more oil in July than a year ago, while imports for the January-July period rose about 10.3 percent, the data showed.</div><div> </div><div>(Reuters)</div>
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