Explained: India-Oman CEPA advances new era of economic partnership

Muscat/New Delhi, Dec 18 The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Oman offers unprecedented market access for Indian goods with zero-duty access on 98.08 per cent of Oman’s tariff lines, covering 99.38 per cent of India’s exports by value, the government said on Thursday.

The CEPA secures unprecedented tariff concessions for India from Oman. All major labour-intensive sectors, including gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and automobiles, receive full tariff elimination.

"Out of the above, immediate tariff elimination is being offered on 97.96 per cent of tariff lines," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

India is offering tariff liberalisation on 77.79 per cent of its total tariff lines, which covers 94.81 per cent of India’s imports from Oman by value. For the products of export interest to Oman and which are sensitive to India, the offer is mostly a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) based tariff liberalisation.

To safeguard its interest, sensitive products have been kept in the exclusion category by India without offering any concessions, especially agricultural products, including dairy, tea, coffee, rubber, and tobacco products; gold and silver bullion, jewellery; other labour-intensive products such as footwear, sports goods; and scrap of many base metals.

Oman’s substantial global services imports amount to $12.52 billion, with the share of India's exports in Oman's global imports basket as 5.31 per cent, indicating significant untapped potential for Indian service providers.

On Thursday, India and Oman took a significant step in building a stronger economic partnership with the signing of CEPA under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the statement said.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Oman’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, signed the agreement.

Nearly 7 lakh Indian nationals reside in Oman, including Indian merchant families with a presence of over 200–300 years, contributing significantly to Oman’s economy and society. Indian enterprises have built a strong presence in Oman, with over 6,000 Indian establishments operating across sectors.

Annual remittances of around $2 billion further reflect the depth of economic engagement. Bilateral trade between India and Oman stands at over $10 billion, with strong potential for expansion under the CEPA framework.

The CEPA further provides for 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Indian companies in major services sectors in Oman through commercial presence, opening a wide avenue for India’s services industry to expand operations in the region.

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