Officials urge stronger branding, market strategies to boost Iran exports to India
Iranian trade officials highlighted the need for stronger market-building and branding strategies to increase the country’s exports to India during the second seminar on market recognition and trade opportunities, held in Tehran on Wednesday.
Hamidreza Karbalaei Esmaeili, deputy head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) for the Indian subcontinent, said companies seeking sustained access to India’s vast market must focus on market-building criteria.
“Market-building is a prerequisite for marketing, and companies that want to maintain a continuous presence in the large Indian market must pay special attention to market-building standards,” he said on Wednesday, ILNA reported on Thursday.
Esmaeili noted that India, with a population of over one billion, represents a significant opportunity for Iranian companies, but Iran currently captures only a small share due to certain policy missteps and restrictive conditions. He stressed the importance of branding, saying, “Market analysis involves various criteria, but branding is a more important priority that companies pay less attention to. If we want to enter global markets, we must give special attention to this issue.” He added that selecting the right trade partner is another key factor in sustaining trade relations.
Addressing the seminar, Hossein Bamiri, Iran’s commercial counselor in India, emphasized India’s potential as a market for Iranian exports. “India is one of our largest customers in the petrochemical sector, but organizing pavilions there can be challenging,” he said.
“India is not a commercial competitor but a complement to us. Currently, most of our exports to India consist of agricultural goods, mostly traditional items such as pistachios, almonds, apples, kiwis, and dates. For years, we have been trying to add other processed and agricultural products such as confectionery and other fruits like cherries, which can be achieved through stronger participation in Indian trade fairs and product promotion.”
He added, “We must diversify our market policies. The traditional export approach needs to be reformed by changing the perspective of companies and economic actors. India has 31 states, and just one of them has a population of 250 million — a huge export potential where we currently have no presence because we do not participate in trade events and are not familiar with these capacities.”
At the seminar, India’s commercial attaché in Iran highlighted ongoing efforts to address trade challenges between the two countries. “Correspondences are underway to remove export barriers with Iran, and the embassy is ready to resolve existing issues in trade interactions and matters related to exports and imports,” he said. He noted that almonds, pistachios, kiwis, and apples remain key Iranian exports to India, alongside pharmaceutical products, and expressed hope that India’s strong relations with Europe and other countries could help expand Iranian exports.
Iran exported about $2.217 billion worth of goods to India in the Iranian calendar year ending March 19, and imported approximately $1.916 billion from India, turning the trade balance in Iran’s favor. According to United Nations Comtrade data, India exported about $1.25 billion worth of goods to Iran and imported about $1.06 billion from Iran in 2024.