Oman FTA: A free trade agreement (FTA) has been signed between India and Oman during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Muscat.
Under the FTA, Oman would offer “zero-duty access” to on 98.08% of its tariff lines that would include 99.38 percent of India’s exports to Oman.
In fiscal year 2024, bilateral trade between India and Oman amounted to $8.947 billion and increased to $10.613 billion in fiscal 2025.
How Does Oman FTA Change Things?
The Oman FTA stipulates that all major labour-intensive sectors including footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles would receive full tariff elimination. Interestingly, silver and gold bullion have been excluded.
Tariff liberalization on 77.79 percent has been offered by India to Oman on its total. A tariff-rate quote based liberalized will get subjected based on the products which are of export interest to Oman but may be sensitive to the interests of local producers.
Oman has also announced enhanced mobility framework for Indian professionals by hiking the quota for intra-corporate transferees from 20% to 50%.
Should Donald Trump Worry?
India has not been shy to diversify its exports despite the 50 percent tariffs imposed by USA, accelerating FTAs with the European Union, Oman and others. It also challenges the $5.8B Oman dominance of China as India can now capture $81M of its market share. Moreover, the autonomy of India will get the much-deserved boost as labour-intensive goods shift from US-hit markets to Oman. The India Oman FTA also complicates Trump’s “America First” as India hedges via BRICS/Gulf ties.
