India has embarked on plans to cut the import of oil from Iran by as much as 10% to 15% or even more from Tehran if they don't assist the nation by lowering prices of the oil. India expects Iran to help cover higher costs resulting from Western sanctions, according to sources.

After US and the EU have imposed several sanctions that were issued to stop the nuclear ambitions of Tehran, the top oil importers in Iran have substantially reduced the import quantities. India is the second-biggest importer only after China and is closely followed by Japan and South Korea.

This costs Iran a loss of over $5 billion per month. "Next year our imports will be 10 per cent to 15 percent less than this year," one official spoke on terms of anonymity as he added, “If they don't cut prices, the decline will be substantial. Indian refiners have genuine problems with credit availability."

India imports oil that translates to approximately 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd) from Iran. State refineries however have no received any official info on the same for the next annual contract in April 2013 but they would inevitably do the same if the prices are high owing to the poor credit availability.

(AW- Anil)