Daily News - Friday, 23 May 2025

India-Oman FTA close; wider jobs window for India likely (Financial Express)

India and Oman are finalising their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with negotiations focusing on India’s demand to freeze Oman’s localisation policy, Omanisation, at current levels for Indian firms to ensure predictable conditions for professionals and businesses. The CEPA, broader in scope than India’s pact with the UAE, offers India access to 98% of its goods in Oman and significant benefits in services, while also addressing employment and taxation concerns, including an amended Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. In 2024–25, India exported goods worth $443 billion to Oman and imported over $6.51 billion, making Oman India’s third-largest GCC export destination, with trade dominated by petroleum, chemicals, engineering goods, and fertilisers.

⁠US eyes fast-track route for seafood, meat under trade pact (mint)

⁠India is considering fast-tracking the registration of US food imports, particularly meat, seafood, oil, and nutraceuticals, under a proposal from FSSAI to the commerce ministry, which could ease market access ahead of a potential bilateral trade agreement expected before 8 July. Last year, FSSAI’s ReFoM platform received around 3,500 applications from foreign food companies, including 158 from the US, and the new plan would prioritise firms certified by the US FDA for quicker registration. This move is part of ongoing India-US negotiations aiming to reset trade ties and avoid retaliatory US tariffs after the 90-day pause ends.

⁠Indian investments in Dubai up after CEPA: President and CEO, Dubai Chambers (The Economic Times)

⁠The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), effective since May 2022, has significantly boosted Indian investments in Dubai, particularly in software, IT services, real estate, and consumer products, driven by tariff cuts and simplified trade rules, according to Dubai Chambers CEO Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah. Between 2020 and 2024, India’s FDI into Dubai reached $4.1 billion, while bilateral trade saw Indian exports to the UAE hit $33.23 billion and imports $55.74 billion in April–February FY25, cementing the UAE’s position as India’s third-largest trading partner. Future collaboration is expected to deepen in areas like AI, e-commerce, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare, with Dubai also targeting Indian sectors such as transportation, warehousing, and financial services for its own outbound investments.

⁠Export houses on radar for illicit Pakistan trade via UAE (The Economic Times)

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is probing 20 export houses for suspected trade-based money laundering involving inflated transactions of low-value goods—such as junk jewellery and electric items—routed through the UAE to Pakistan, with some items priced as high as ₹19,000 per piece despite a market value of only ₹100. The scheme allegedly used cash-in-advance payments and exaggerated agency commissions, sometimes exceeding the cost of the goods themselves, to disguise illicit financial flows, prompting concerns of possible terror financing links. This follows a similar DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) case last year involving overvalued synthetic diamond imports, underlining how strict customs and digital surveillance are pushing criminal networks to exploit trade channels to move money illicitly.

⁠India's car economy leaves the middle class fuming (The Economic Times)

⁠India’s $30 billion annual investment in its rapidly expanding road network has made it the second largest globally by length, but this car-centric model, borrowed from 20th-century America, has come at high economic and environmental costs, especially for a middle class paying $7 billion in tolls annually and facing fuel prices 30% higher than in the US. While road freight now commands a 65% market share and logistics firms benefit, high vehicle taxes (up to 50% of a new SUV’s cost) and debt-laden infrastructure (with the National Highway Authority carrying over $40 billion in debt) burden individual motorists and small car buyers, who are pulling back. With roads contributing 93% of India’s transport emissions, compared to 84% in the US and 81% in China, the country’s slow trains, underused airports, impractical subways, and delayed high-speed rail underscore the need for a shift toward robust, equitable public transport rather than deeper dependence on costly highways.