India decides to cut Iran crude imports by 11 percent

New Delhi, May 15: In the face of US sanctions on Iran, India has decided to reduce crude oil imports from the gulf nation by 11.1 percent to 15.5 million tonnes during the 2012-13 fiscal, Parliament was informed Tuesday.

"The target fixed for import of crude oil from Iran for the year 2012-13 is approximately 15.5 million tonnes," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R.P.N. Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

Total crude oil imported from Iran by Indian companies during 2010-11 and 2011-12 was 18.50 million tonnes and 17.44 million tonnes, respectively, Singh said in a written reply.

India imports 80 percent of its crude oil requirements of which Iran supplies as much as 12 percent. Iran is India's second largest oil supplier. But the US has been rallying for reduction of crude imports to force the Islamic republic to stop its military nuclear programme that Tehran says is only for civilian peaceful usage. The US suspects that under the guise of its peaceful nuclear programme, Iran is building atomic weapons.

Earlier, India had maintained that it was not possible to take any decision on reducing imports from Iran drastically as it was important in meeting India's growing energy needs.

Earlier this month in an interview to a television channel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also said that the United States will work to help India with technical assistance to reduce its dependence on Iranian oil.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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