The reopening of rice imports by Iran could give a fillip to India’s basmati shipments, which have risen by about a fourth in rupee terms in the first eight months of the current financial year. Iran is the largest buyer of India’s basmati and accounts for a fourth of India’s annual aromatic rice shipments of around four million tonnes. Iran, which ended the seasonal import ban in November, has started registration for rice imports, which will be from January 21 till June 21. In recent years, Iran has been placing temporary curbs on rice imports during the July-January period, mainly to protect its domestic paddy growers and support local prices during the harvest season.