India has protected its market from imports of over 2,780 tariff lines, including gold and silver bullions, jewellery, dairy, tea, coffee and tobacco, under its free trade agreement with Oman, which will be operational from Monday, officials aware of the development said.
India has offered tariff liberalisation on 77.79% of its over 12,550 tariff lines, covering 94.81% of the country’s imports from Oman by value. But multiple tariff lines have been placed in the exclusion list to safeguard manufacturing competitiveness and farmer interests, the officials said, requesting anonymity.
The FTA protects India’s sensitive sectors adequately. India has placed 2,789 tariff lines in the exclusion list, including transport equipment, major chemicals, cereals, fruits, vegetables, spices, and animal-origin products, they said.
Sensitive value-chain industries such as rubber, leather, textiles, footwear, petroleum oils and mineral-based products are safeguarded to protect India’s manufacturing competitiveness, they said.
“Strategic agricultural products such as dairy, meat, cereals, oilseeds, vegetable oils and sugar remain excluded. Jewellery, precious and non-ferrous metals and petroleum products are also protected,” one of the officials said.
A tariff-rate quota (TRQ) has been put to check import of sensitive items for India such as marble, dates, petrochemicals and plastics.
Unlike its FTA with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India has not liberalised precious metals such as gold under Oman deal. Under India’s FTA with the UAE, TRQ-based concessional duty import of gold is allowed. TRQ is a trade mechanism that allows import of only a specific quantity of any specified product to be imported at a concessional tariff.
Similarly, the agreement also took care of Oman’s sensitivities by excluding cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol and other beverages from the deal.
The India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed on December 18 last year, is scheduled to be operational on June 1, the officials said. The CEPA was signed in Muscat by commerce Piyush Goyal and his Omani counterpart Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sultan Haitham bin Tarik. The two countries started negotiations for the CEPA in November 2023.
The CEPA secured almost 100% duty-free market access for India’s exports to Oman, covering 98.08% of Oman’s tariff lines, representing 99.38% of Indian exports by value, officials cited above said.
The pact will benefit exports of Indian textiles and apparels, agricultural and processed food products, transport equipment, precision instruments, marine products, and gems and jewellery among others. All zero- duty concessions will apply from June 1, they said.
Oman is an important strategic partner in the region and a key gateway for Indian goods and services to the wider West Asian region and Africa, the officials said. Rules of origin may apply for re-export of merchandise after value addition in Oman, which is practical as ample land is available there for setting up facilities, they said.
After initial resistance, which was one of the reasons to defer the signing of the deal in March 2024, Oman agreed to raise the cap under its Omanisation programme that is technically known as Intra-corporate transferees (ICTs) in trade deals. Oman has raised the ICT cap from 20% to 50%, enabling Indian companies to deploy a larger share of managerial, executive, and specialist staff, exceeding its commitments under other trade agreements. The basic principle of the Omanisation programme is to replace expatriates with trained local personnel. It mandates a sector-specific percentage or quota, which is often revised.
In order to boost India’s services exports, 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.
According to the government data, India-Oman bilateral merchandise trade in 2025-26 stood at $11.2 billion, 5.56% up from $10.61 billion in 2024-25 with balance of trade in favour of the Gulf country. In FY26, India exported goods worth $4.02 billion to Oman and imported $7.17 billion worth of merchandise from the country.
India’s key imports from Oman included petroleum crude and products (worth $3.69 billion), salt, sulphur, earth and stone ($506 million), ores, slag and ash ($410 million), chemicals ($943 million), fertiliser ($844 million), and plastic ($196 million).
Major exports to Oman from India included petroleum products ($1.67 billion), chemicals ($405 million) meat, fish and dairy items ($159 million), fruits, nuts and vegetables ($82 million), coffee, tea and spices ($23 million), and cereals ($174.4 million), various types of machinery, ships, boats, iron and steel ($746.79 million).
