There is a great opportunity for the Indian small and medium enterprises doing business in the Salalah Free Zone in Oman, with many attractive sops being rolled out for the SME sector of the country, in a communique to Mr. Mohan Suresh, President, FISME from Mr. Anil Wadhwa, the Ambassador of India, Oman it was cited.

 

The communique reads Indian SMEs establishing business in the Salalah Free Zone (SFZ) will be receiving benefits like 100 per cent foreign ownership, zero customs duties on imports and exports and no minimum capital investment requirements. There will be no taxes on profits or dividends for 30 years and on personal Income Tax, in addition without any restriction on repatriation of capital/ profits/investment; however with Omanization requirement only of 10 per cent.

 

100% foreign ownership

For Indian SMEs, Salalah comes as a sourcing point for exports to the booming markets in the Gulf and also to European and Central Asian markets; the Indian exporter can also tap the market of Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Indian Ocean Rim countries.

 

Being the fastest-growing seaport in the entire Middle East, Salalah offers one of the most significant pro-business technologically upgraded to handle the larger, super-fleets of the future. Infrastructure capacities are being expanded to manage an exponential growth in traffic volume.

 

A new Power Project in Salalah is also expected to add significant on-demand surplus power to the region. Salalah is well-connected to other GCC states that collectively have a consumer base of around 28 million, with high purchasing power.

 

It is also connected to Iran, Yemen, the Indian Sub-Continent, countries on the Horn of Africa, and the Central Asian Republics. The logical advantages include a world-class deep sea port that can handle world's largest S-class vessels; it has world's largest cranes and it boasts of a very low turnaround time.