India-Oman free trade pact likely to become operational within 3 months: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Oman, offering zero duty access to a range of Indian labour-intensive exports, is likely to become operational within the next three months.

“The Oman-United States trade agreement, signed in 2006, took nearly three years to be implemented. Learning from that experience, India and Oman have decided to operationalise this agreement much faster,” the minister said at a briefing.

The agreement provides for automatic approvals within 90 days for Indian pharmaceutical products and manufacturing units that are recognised by multiple countries.

India and Oman signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on Thursday during the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Muscat.

The CEPA secures unprecedented tariff concessions for India from Oman. Oman has offered zero-duty access on 98.08 per cent of its tariff lines, covering 99.38 per cent of India’s exports to Oman. All major labour-intensive sectors, including gems & jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and automobiles, receive full tariff elimination.

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.

The services sector, a strong driver of India’s economy, will also see wide-ranging benefits. 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.

The agreement features a comprehensive and forward-looking services package, with Oman extending substantial commitments across a broad spectrum of sectors, including computer-related services, business and professional services, audio-visual services, research and development, education, and health services. These commitments are expected to unlock significant new opportunities for Indian service providers, promote high-value job creation, and support expanding commercial engagement between the two countries.

A major highlight of the CEPA is the enhanced mobility framework for Indian professionals. For the first time, Oman has offered wide-ranging commitments under Mode 4, including a notable increase in the quota for intra-corporate transferees from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, together with a longer permitted duration of stay for contractual service suppliers—extended from the existing 90 days to two years, with the possibility of a further two-year extension.

The agreement also provides for more liberal entry and stay conditions for skilled professionals in key sectors such as accountancy, taxation, architecture, medical and allied services, supporting deeper and more seamless professional engagement.

IANS