Business delegation underlines Salalah for Indian investment

The Omani delegation comprised of Salim Taman al Mashani, Chairman ICT Oman, Peter Ford, CEO at Port of Salalah, Jeff Rodwell, representative of American international law firm Duane Morris, Dr. Shirish Gupte, CEO ICT-Kitara JV, and Magesh Ganesan, Country Manager at DHL.

Pune, which is located about 180 kilometers from Mumbai, is the largest auto center in India with over 4,000 manufacturing units catering to both the domestic market and a significant share of the $6.8bn exports of automobile engineering and parts from India. Pune is also one of the important Information Technology centers of India.

By taking advantage of the Salalah Hub incentives, location and connectivity available by air, land and sea, Pune's companies set up at the Salalah Freezone adjacent to the Port of Salalah could reduce their supply chain transit times to major destinations in the GCC and Asia by 28%, its haulage time to the port by 95%, and at a 71% lower trucking cost.

The speakers also demonstrated that medium-sized company companies set up in Salalah would benefit from a reduction in working capital requirement by up to $9.5m annually, while the concessional duty structure under the US-Oman Free Trade Agreement could potentially save the Indian auto exporters up to $45m annually.

The Maharatta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), organizers of the seminar and the premier industrial association for promoting trade and development in Pune, said that many of the attendees expressed an interest to visit Oman to view the facilities and meet relevant local companies and government officials to explore other cross border opportunities by utilizing the Port of Salalah and Salalah Free Zone as a springboard to cover the emerging markets in of East Africa, India and GCC from a single location.

MCCIA estimates that companies established in Pune expect to report a total of circa $8bn in revenue from 2012 operations, adding that the distinct advantages of Salalah's business environment for manufacturing and logistics such as low cost financing, tax concessions, strong infrastructure and a young workforce, increased the appeal for foreign investment into Oman.