Oman-India SPV to complete deployment in few months

DUBAI: Oman-India Joint Investment Fund, a special purpose vehicle ( SPV) for promoting joint investment in projects in India, will complete deploying its first tranche of $100 million in the coming months, Indian Ambassador to Oman J S Mukul has said.

According to a news report, Mukul told India Business Seminar on Wednesday that the investment partnership between India and Oman is reflected through operation of hundreds of joint ventures and are valued at $7.5 billion. Out of this, the Indian contribution was $4.5 billion.

The investment fund was formed in 2011 by the State Bank of India (SBI) and the State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF).

"Among these joint ventures, the $1 billion Oman-India Fertiliser Company in Sur is the flag-bearer of India's investments abroad. Similarly, Oman has made significant investments in the $2.4 billion Bharat-Oman Refinery at Bina, Madhya Pradesh," the ambassador was quoted as saying by Times of Oman.

He also said a couple of ferro-chrome joint ventures in Sohar are in the pipeline.

Larsen & Toubro, Simplex, KEC and TCIL have won mega construction projects valued at over $1 billion in Oman this year, Mukul said.

He further said the bilateral trade has doubled during the last five years and is presently at about $5 billion per annum.

The report quoted preliminary data from India, which says that for the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the volume of bilateral trade is on course to register further growth.

According to the report, Oman is a sought-after destination of Indian exports, and for Omani businessmen, India has emerged for the first time (in 2012) as the top-most destination for Omani non-oil exports.

The Omani business interest in India is also reflected in the 15-16 per cent compounded growth rate in the number of Indian visas issued by the Embassy in Muscat in recent years.