India, Oman FTA to come into effect in 3 months
he India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will come into effect within three months, the Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday, a day after the two countries signed the agreement. Goyal also said that several Indian companies like Apollo, Amul, Amity will be exploring investment opportunities in Oman, confirmed the minister.
“The Oman minister and I have discussed and decided that we will try to operationalise the agreement within three months,” said Goyal during a media briefing on Friday.
India will get duty-free market access for its 99% exports in value terms to Oman. Currently, only 15.33% of India’s exports enters Oman at zero duty under the MFN regime. As highlighted by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, one of the biggest gains from this FTA comes from the services sector, with Oman opening up 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for India. This move can boost India's services exports.
India is planning to invest in domains like battery manufacturing, green hydrogen production, education and medical sector in Oman. Amity and Apollo Group have committed to make investments for the education and healthcare sectors, respectively.
While Oman has opened the majority of the sectors for India, the latter has maintained a protectionist stance for some of its sensitive sectors. As confirmed by the Ministry, India has placed 2,789 tariff lines in the exclusion list under the India-Oman CEPA, protecting key domestic sectors such as transport equipment, major chemicals, cereals, fruits and vegetables, spices, coffee and tea, and animal-origin products.
Sensitive value-chain industries including rubber, leather, textiles, footwear, petroleum oils, and mineral-based products are also shielded to safeguard manufacturing competitiveness and farmer interests.
While India has maintained its protectionist stance for the dairy sector, Amul India and Oman Dairy have planned to get into a joint venture to set up their plant in Oman. “Already we have received an interest from the Oman dairy to have a joint venture with Amul dairy and other dairies in India are also welcome to go and explore the potential there,” said Goyal.