Prabhu invites Oman investments

India-Oman Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF) has raised another US$220 million for the second tranche which is being invested in India, said a public information bureau release on 16 July 2018.

The OIJIF, a special purpose joint venture between State Bank of India and State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) to invest in India, has fully utilized the initial corpus of US$100 million.

This was disclosed after Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu addressed the 8th Session of India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting (JCM).

Prabhu co-chaired the JCM with Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy of Oman, Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy.

Prabhu invited Omani companies to build on their success in India and make investments to benefit from ‘Make in India’ and ‘Invest India’ programmes which are aimed to encourage manufacturing.

He said that both countries are keen to expand collaborations to their mutual benefit in the fields of energy, health, business, finance and investments, infrastructure, travel and tourism.

Areas of discussion in the JCM include cooperation in space, renewable energy, start-up, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), food security, including durable foods and packaging, services sector, tourism sector, exchange of ideas and visit of young entrepreneurs.

India Oman bilateral trade has grown from US$4.13 billion in 2014-15 to US$6.7 billion in 2017-18. India’s export to Oman was US$2.44 billion in 2017-18.

Indian financial institutions such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Ltd and ICICI Securities, Air India, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), New India Assurance Co, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL), Engineers India Ltd (EIL), Engineering Projects India Limited (EPIL) and National Building Construction Company (NBCC) have presence in Oman.

Indian companies have invested in Oman in sectors like iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, textile, cables, chemicals and automotive, especially in Sohar and Salalah. fiinews.com