India-Oman trade balance rises in latter’s favour

Muscat: The trade balance between India and Oman has increased over US$50,000 in favour of the Sultanate, data from an Indian government website has revealed.

Compared to the previous financial year, the trade balance swelled by $53,698.21 in Oman’s favour. For the financial year 2017-2018, the trade balance is $162,202.06 compared to $108,503.85 for 2016-2017 in Oman’s favour.

According to the Indian embassy, bilateral trade between the two countries rose 3.6 per cent from $3.8 billion in 2015-16 to $4 billion in 2016-17.

Oman’s major exports to India are oil, its derivatives and fertilisers. India’s exports to Oman include minerals, machinery, textiles, spices, tea, coffee etc.

This is the first time the trade balance between the two countries has increased in the Sultanate’s favour in three years, thanks to the gradual increase in oil prices. For the financial year 2014-2015, the trade balance was $137,694.93 and for 2015-2016, it was $118,716.50 in the Sultanate’s favour.

Second secretary at the Indian embassy Yumkhaibam Sabir said that the trade balance was positive news for Oman and was due to the increase in global prices of crude.

“Actually, India has been increasingly importing more oil and oil products from Oman. The appreciation of oil prices has of course, helped the Sultanate. As far as we are concerned, we are not too worried about the trade balance because it is not that significant. Our goal is to encourage bilateral trade and investment,” he said.

Sabir added that there was great scope for expansion of trade and investment between the two countries.

“When we speak about Oman and India, one cannot ignore the fact that the two nations are so close to each other. It has also got to do with the cultural similarity and familiarity. This is why the government of India has been so enthusiastic in encouraging economic ties and co-operation between the two states. For example, we would like to see more engineering goods from India make their way into the Omani market. We would also like to see more Indian companies involved in the power sector, here in Oman," he added.

“On the Omani side, we would like to see more Omani investment in India. Our country is an attractive place for investment. Omani capital could certainly aid our infrastructure back home. These are a few of our goals, as of now,” the second secretary remarked.

The Indian embassy regularly sets up business-to-business (B2B) meetings at its premises for the same purposes. This has included attracting Omani tourists to India.

Imports from the Sultanate to India have increased by $2,973.79, thanks to the appreciation in the prices of oil.

In the financial year 2017-2018, India imported goods worth $4,264.29 from Oman. The same figure for 2016-2017 was $1,290.50. This significant increase comes after a gap of three years, when the value of imports was dropping.

Indian imports from Oman had been valued at $2,951.18 in the financial year 2013-2014. It fell drastically to $1,752.24 in 2014-2015. It had fallen further to $1,674.71 in 2014-2015.