Nuclear Deal Could Revive India-Iran Shipping Joint Venture: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A shipping joint venture between Iran and India could be revived after a framework nuclear deal was reached between Tehran and world powers, a spokesman for Shipping Corp. of India Ltd (SCI) said on Monday.
Irano Hind Shipping joint venture (JV) that ferried crude oil to India for four decades until the July 2012 Western sanctions crippled its operations could get a new lease of life, after Tehran and global powers reached a nuclear agreement last week that will lead to lifting of these sanctions.
The framework agreement between Iran and global powers was signed on 2 April, exactly two years after India’s cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) decided to wind up Irano Hind Shipping Co. P.J.S—a JV between Shipping Corp. of India Ltd (SCI) and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL).
Both are state-owned companies. “With the changed situation, anything can happen,” said a spokesman for Mumbai-based SCI. The matter is for the government to decide, LiveMint news website quoted him as saying.
“The government has to take a call on whether to reverse its earlier decision to dissolve the company,” he added. If the venture gets a new lease of life, it would be a major relief for India, which has struggled to find oil tankers, and Iran that has been under the sanctions.
SCI held a 49% stake in Irano Hind, which was formed in March 1975 on the basis of a bilateral pact between India and Iran. The JV firm owned crude oil tankers and bulk carriers.
Iran, though, was not keen on dissolving the JV and wanted to continue business with or without SCI, forcing India’s biggest ocean carrier to consider the option of selling its stake to the Iranian firm to exit the company. However, the process of valuing the shares for transferring it to IRISL was yet to be decided.
“We are looking into the matter now that the scenario has undergone a drastic change with the signing of the framework agreement last week between Iran and western nations,” said a spokesman for the shipping ministry.
“Terminating a joint venture is a painful process. The only reason we decided to end it was the Western sanctions,” Arun Kumar Gupta, chairman and managing director of SCI, said in an earlier interview.
“Irano Hind Shipping was a well-run company which was paying regular dividends to us. The cabinet decided to wind up the company only because the sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union made it difficult for the JV operate its ships,” the spokesman said.