Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily says his ministry has planned to save 22 billion US dollars in oil import bill. He told reporters in New Delhi that the Prime Minister had sought 25 billion dollar cut in oil import bill to narrow Current Account Deficit, CAD. Moily refused to divulge details of the plan but said the savings will be one per cent of the GDP.

India, which paid about 170 billion dollar in the last last fiscal for importing oil, is renewing imports of the fuel from Iran as unlike imports from other countries, it pays Tehran in rupees. Payments in rupee helps save foreign exchange outgo, thereby reducing CAD.

Officials said if India was to import 10 or 11 million tonnes of oil from Iran this fiscal, it could save a minimum of 10 billion dollar in foreign exchange outflow. 13.1 million tonnes of oil was imported from the Persian Gulf nation in the last fiscal.