Aussie wheat exporter AWB is close to finalising a deal to sell $180 million worth of wheat to India, which has begun buying grain following a poor harvest, after years of self-sufficiency.

The Indian shortage came at a fortuitous time for AWB, which has lost its hold on the valuable Iraq market in the wake of the oil-for-food bribery scandal still under investigation by the Cole inquiry.

AWB is understood to have secured 600,000 tonnes of a 1.67 million tonne tender from India's State Trading Corp, which is building up government stockpiles in order to keep local prices stable following a poor grain harvest this year.

The rest of the tender will be supplied by Swiss firm Glencore, Germany's Toepfer International and Concordia of the US.

AWB has already sold 1 million tonnes of wheat this year to India, which had been absent as a buyer in the world market for the past six years.