Indian entrepreneur looking for opportunity in Oman

Muscat: Pune-based alternate power solutions firm North India Diesel Spares (NIDS) plans to capitalise on Oman’s vibrant diversification with operations that may include Oman’s first genset manufacturing facility, a senior official from the company, said.
The 40-year-old group that began as a trading company in the early 1980s is now a leading manufacturer of engines and generators, with factories in the Indian state of Maharashtra and a strong dealership network across India. Initially, Oman operations will begin by providing end to end solutions to clients in Oman, according to Kunal Shaw, managing director of NIDS.
“We have several tie ups with countries in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Africa and South America. While a lot of companies provide different services at different stages of business, we provide end to end solutions as a one stop shop, from manufacturing, renting, servicing, etc. The reason we think this is important in Oman is because there is a need for a complete solution provider to improve efficiency of operations,” he explained. “We are looking for a joint venture partner to open a large genset rental setup. Currently, there is no genset manufacturing facility in Oman and we plan to be the first in near future. We have plans in the pipeline to start the assembly and manufacturing of gensets in Oman.”
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Indian embassy have been increasingly supporting Indian investments in Oman’s free zones in Duqm and Sohar. Several Indian firms like Sebacic Oman have already built multi-million dollar facilities in the Sultanate, accelerating diversification and providing job opportunities.
Shaw was on a short visit to Oman to meet officials from companies that are looking for their products. A crucial reason to choose Oman according to Shaw is the growing economy and its location that provides a gateway to the GCC, African and Asian markets.
“Oman has a very good location. Its ports and free zones are also good places to look at for our future ventures. It gives us an opportunity to reach big markets. Moreover, there are a lot of development activities taking place in Oman, including construction where our products will be heavily in demand. Apart from this, our gensets can be used anywhere where alternate power source is required, hospitals, oil and gas, factories, residential, mining industry, hotels, etc,” he said. NIDS is also testing solar gensets to provide renewable sources of power, especially for use in countries such as Oman, where solar irradiance is one of the highest in the world.