Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that the India and Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) may come into force in the next three months. This will allow trade between India and Oman with zero duty on most goods.
The Union Minister said, “The trade agreement between Oman and the US was signed in 2006 and took three years to be implemented. Learning from this experience, India and Oman have decided to implement the new CEPA as soon as possible.”
This agreement has a provision for automatic approval within 90 days for those Indian pharmaceutical products and manufacturing units which are recognized by many countries.
The India and Oman CEPA was signed on Thursday, the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Muscat.
The agreement provides India access to Oman’s markets by offering zero duty on 98.08 per cent of Oman’s tariff lines, covering 99.38 per cent of India’s exports by value. This will significantly benefit labour-intensive sectors, generate employment and strengthen MSMEs, artisans and women-led enterprises.
CEPA will benefit key export sectors such as textiles, leather, footwear, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles with complete tariff elimination, thereby strengthening India’s manufacturing and export competitiveness. Also, protection has been given to India’s sensitive sectors to protect the interests of our farmers and small businesses.
At the same time, India has reduced tariffs on 77.79 percent of its tariff lines for Oman, which cover 94.81 percent of India’s imports from Oman in terms of value.
The agreement provides a comprehensive and forward-looking framework for services trade, covering IT, business and professional services, R&D, education, health and audio-visual services. One of the main points of CEPA is that the period of residence permit for contract service suppliers has been increased from 90 days to two years and can be extended for another two years. Both countries will benefit from this.
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