Indo Iran Ties- Beyond The Handshake

India’s trade agreements with Iran are a beginning but outstanding issues need to be speedily resolved to reap the benefits

- Shweta Punj

For the past five years, India and Iran have engaged in an irate correspondence over an Iranian firm. Iran’s largest fibre optic manufacturer, Sim Noor Pooya Co., bagged a 2010 contract to work with India’s Power Grid Corporation. The deal went sour after contractual disagreements. Power Grid is yet to pay the Iranian firm for services rendered because they didn’t get approvals to pay the Iranian company in India and refused to pay in a third country (as Iran was still under sanctions). The Iranian firm claims to have lost about 2 million euros in the dispute, which is yet to be resolved. “This is a typical example of business getting lost in systemic, procedural issues. Without solving banking issues, how can anybody do business in a country?” asks Pervinder Singh Chandok, vice-president of the Tehran-based

India-Iran Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Chandok represents one of the oldest Indian families in Iran and has been witness to the peaks and troughs of Indo-Iran relations.