India, Oman Ink Free Trade Agreement

New Delhi: In a major development, the government on Thursday said that India excluded sensitive sectors from tariff concessions in its trade deal with Oman, particularly dairy and key agricultural products, to safeguard domestic interests. The sensitive sector, however, includes dairy, tea, coffee, rubber, and tobacco products, gold, silver, jewellery and other labour-intensive products such as footwear, sports goods.

As part of the trade deal, the government said that India would cut duties on about 78 percent of its tariff lines, covering nearly 95 percent of imports from Oman, with sensitive products given access mainly through tariff-rate quotas. On the other hand, the trade deal gives India zero-duty access on 98.08 percent of Oman’s tariff lines, covering 99.38 percent of Indian exports by value.

“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 commerce ministry said in a statement.

India generally ships limited amounts of textiles, gems and jewellery, and leather products to Oman. The trade deal is expected to boost exports of these labour-intensive goods that are facing the brunt of steeper tariffs from the US. Over 80 percent of Indian goods are subject to an average import duty of 5 percent by Oman. When it comes to India’s imports from Oman, mineral fuels and fertilisers make up the largest share.

The ministry further said that the services sector, a strong driver of India’s economy, will also see wide-ranging benefits. “Oman’s substantial global services imports amounting 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 deal 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, research and development, education and health services,” it said.

Talks for a trade agreement between India and Oman began in November 2023 and concluded in August 2025. As per the latest government data, total trade between India and Oman stood at $10.61 billion in 2024-25, a growth of 18.6 percent on-year.

“India imported goods worth $6.55 billion from Oman, while exports to the Gulf nation stood at $4.07 billion, leading to a trade deficit of $2.48 billion in the previous financial year,” the data showed.

The data also showed that India’s exports to Oman during the previous fiscal stayed almost steady with slight dips from $4.48 billion in FY23 and $4.43 billion in FY24, while imports witnessed an almost 45 percent jump on-year due to a sharp contraction in 2023-24. “Top exports to Oman in FY25 were led by petroleum products at $1.43 billion, engineering goods worth $812.2 million, mica, coal and other ores of $428.6 million and chemicals amounting to $241.4 million,” it showed.