The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Between the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and the Government of the Republic of India was ratified on February 15th of 2026. The main goal of it is to strengthen the bilateral trade agreement, this means to enhance investment ties between the two countries by reducing trade barriers like custom duties on imported goods.
This blog post will highlight five key attributes of this agreement:
1. CEPA is a Free Trade Agreement
A CEPA at its core is a free trade agreement, which is an agreement that focuses on eliminating tariffs on the import of goods and services between countries. A CEPA attempts to be more comprehensive by incorporating additional matters such as collaboration in the area of SMEs and other topics between countries.
2. Oman-India CEPA is the biggest treaty that Oman has ever signed
Based on word count and the number of pages of the agreement, This agreement is the biggest and longest agreement that Oman has ever taken part in.
3. The treatment of goods and services between the two countries under the CEPA is asymmetrical
While most bilateral agreements provide equal treatment between the two countries, CEPA adopts a more delicate approach as the treatment of goods differs between the two countries so that, for example, one good would be exempt from tariffs going into country A, but not exempt from tariffs going into country B. This is intended to ensure that countries domestic businesses are not affected by the provisions of the agreement.
4. Oman-India CEPA allows the presence of some employees of service providers to stay in Oman for periods upto four years
One of the unique aspects of the Oman-India CEPA is the treatment of the employees of service providers which will be allowed in specific cases to allow them to enter Oman and stay for a period of up to two years extensible for an additional period of two years. It is worth noting that this applies to a specific category of employees, such as senior managers and those with special technical skills, and not all the employees of the service provider.
5. Oman-India CEPA has not entered into force
Oman-India CEPA was signed in December 2025 and ratified by Oman in February 2026. For the treaty to enter into force, both Oman and India are required to complete their legal formalties and communicate to each other that the treaty is effective from their side. At the time of writing this post, India has not published any updates on completing its internal procedures to commence the implementation of the treaty. However, it is expected for this to take place in the upcoming months.
Conclusion
Oman-India CEPA is one of the most significant treaties that Oman has ever signed, and it is expected to have significant implications on the relationship between the two countries, but also on how business is conducted in Oman in general.
You can read the text of this treaty in full in English on the link below:
