India Oman Trade Deal (1)
India’s trade deal with Oman, which came into effect from June 1, could help New Delhi secure fertilizer supplies amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia. In recent times, due to this conflict the supply has been greatly disrupted. The India-Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will remove tariffs on 99 percent of India’s exports and will also open the way for deeper investment ties.
Apart from crude oil, the Iran war has also put pressure on India’s fertilizer supplies. The Gulf region accounts for about 20-30 percent of India’s urea imports and 50 percent of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports. LNG is the main fuel used in making nitrogen-based fertilizers like urea.
Oman’s Foreign Trade Advisor Pankaj Khimji said on June 1 that Oman is ready to supply more fertilizers and petrochemicals to India. He said that if such a request is made, Oman would be willing to consider diverting part of its production from the ‘Oman India Fertilizer Project’ (which is a joint venture of IFFCO, KRIBHCO and Oman Investment Authority) to India.
Oman is already a major supplier of fertilizers, energy and industrial raw materials to India. In FY26, New Delhi imported goods worth $7.2 billion from Oman, which included crude oil worth $1.6 billion, LNG worth $1.2 billion and fertilizers worth $843 million. After the Iran War, India has diversified its sourcing of fertilizers from countries like Russia, Morocco, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Jordan, Canada, Algeria, Egypt and Togo.
India-Oman CEPA
The agreement was signed in December and came into force after it was ratified by both sides. Under this agreement, India has gained duty free access to 99.38 per cent of its exports (by value) to the Gulf country, which includes 98.08 per cent of Oman’s tariff lines. This is India’s second trade agreement with a Gulf country after the UAE, and is expected to further deepen economic integration with a key strategic partner in the region.
The government hopes that this agreement will give an immediate boost to exports. Oman is India’s second largest trading partner in the Gulf region, and through its logistics and port infra it serves as a strategic gateway to the broader Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and East African markets.
Bilateral trade between India and Oman increased to $11.18 billion in FY26 from $10.61 billion in the previous year. India’s exports to Oman in the financial year 2025-26 stood at about four billion US dollars. In this, refined petroleum products like petrol ($781 million) and naphtha ($746 million) were prominent.
This was followed by calcined alumina ($277 million), iron and steel products ($230 million), machinery ($178 million) and rice ($167 million). On the other hand, India imported US $ 7.2 billion from Oman in 2025-26. In this, the quantity of crude oil ($1.6 billion), liquefied natural gas ($1.2 billion) and fertilizer ($843 million) was the highest.
kharif season
The Department of Agriculture and Family Welfare said on June 1 that in view of the concerns of El Nino, the requirement of core fertilizers for Kharif-2026 has been re-assessed in consultation with the states. Under this, the requirement of urea has been reduced from 194.02 lakh metric tons (LMT) to 190.32 LMT and the requirement of DAP has been reduced from 59.17 LMT to 56.23 LMT.
For Kharif 2026, the government has re-assessed the requirement of fertilizer and fixed it at 383.9 LMT. As on June 1, the stock of fertilizers in the country was about 199.86 LMT (more than 52 percent), which is much higher than the normal level (about 33 percent).
Aparna Sharma, Additional Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, said on June 1 that the country has procured about 25 LMT urea, 15 LMT DAP and 10 LMT NPKs (including ammonium sulphate) from routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, which are expected to arrive in June-July. He said that since the beginning of the conflict in West Asia, India has ensured supply of 132.43 LMT fertilizers through imports and domestic production.
