India has proposed to Oman the use and acceptance of the RuPay card, something that will benefit the Indian diaspora in Oman. RuPay is an Indian payment gateway like Visa or Mastercard and is quickly being expanded to India’s neighbouring countries with a huge Indian diaspora. RuPay was launched in Singapore in 2018, followed by Maldives and Bhutan. In West Asia, it was launched first in UAE, and then gradually expanded to countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, helping thousands of Indian ex-pats who send money back home.
There are about 624,000 Indians in Oman, and most of them are working professionals. During recent talks in Delhi, Oman also agreed to speed up approvals for the registration of Indian pharmaceutical products already registered with regulators like the US’s FDA, UK’s MHRA, and EMA. GCC or Gulf cooperation council is a group of 6 countries – consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Issues like the India-Oman Bilateral Investment Treaty also came up during the discussions. A meeting of the Indian-Oman Joint Business Council will take place in Delhi on Thursday.
There are over 6,000 Indian enterprises and establishments in Oman with an estimated investment of US$ 7.5 billion. India-Oman bilateral trade witnessed an increase from US$ 5.4 billion in 2020-21 to US$ 9.94 billion during 2021-22. Indian firms have invested heavily in Oman in various sectors like iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, textile, cables, chemicals, automotive, etc.