Business & Economics
India and Oman Seal CEPA Granting Near-Total Duty-Free Market Access
On 18 Dec 2025 in Muscat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sultan Haitham bin Tarik concluded a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that wipes tariffs on 98.08 % of Omani lines for Indian exports and liberalises labour mobility, while Modi was simultaneously decorated with the Order of Oman during the visit marking 70 years of bilateral ties.
Focusing Facts
- The CEPA extends zero-duty entry to 99.38 % of India’s current exports and 98.08 % of Oman's tariff lines.
- Oman offered binding commitments in 127 services sub-sectors, raising quotas and stay periods for Indian professionals under Mode 4.
- Modi became the first Indian leader to receive the Order of Oman, adding his 29th foreign state honour on 18 Dec 2025.
Context
The deal echoes India’s 1998 FTA with Sri Lanka—another Indian Ocean neighbour—whose tariff cuts sparked a five-fold trade jump by 2008; Muscat now bets a similar multiplier can help it, like Sri Lanka then, diversify beyond a single-commodity economy. Strategically, the pact fits two converging long arcs: India’s century-long effort to turn historic mercantile links in the Gulf into formal economic architecture, and Oman’s post-1970 push (accelerated after the 2014 oil price crash) to reduce hydrocarbon dependence. On a 100-year timeline the agreement matters less for today’s customs schedules than for knitting the western Indian Ocean into a semi-integrated economic corridor that could outlast the fossil-fuel era and shape supply-chain geography long after oil revenues fade.
Perspectives
Pro-government Indian media
e.g., Devdiscourse, Jammu Kashmir Latest News, english — Presents the Order of Oman as fresh proof that Prime Minister Modi’s personal diplomacy is elevating India’s global standing and cementing ‘foreign-policy successes’. The boosterish tone centres on Modi the statesman while sidestepping whether such awards are largely symbolic or how domestic political considerations shape the triumphal narrative.
Indian business & economic press
e.g., The New Indian Express, The Financial Express, Pragativadi, Devdiscourse-Business — Frames the visit chiefly through the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, arguing it will slash tariffs and unlock huge export, investment and job-creation opportunities for India. By spotlighting projected gains the coverage downplays execution risks, possible import surges that could hurt local industries, and the absence of detailed cost-benefit analysis.
Omani local media
e.g., Oman Observer — Highlights centuries-old cultural links and the Indian expatriate community, portraying the visit as a celebration of friendship and people-to-people ties. The feel-good messaging sustains Oman’s image as a hospitable partner but avoids discussing power asymmetries or contentious regional geopolitics that might complicate the relationship.