This article covers cultural relations, heritage projects, education links and the Indian community in Oman, drawing on the MEA bilateral brief of July 2026. Community figures are those given in the brief and describe the position at the dates it states.
Shared history
According to the MEA brief of July 2026, people-to-people contact between India and Oman can be traced back 5000 years. The brief describes the two countries as sharing a cultural bond rooted in millennia-old people-to-people exchanges and the presence of a substantial Indian community in Oman.
The brief describes as notable the announcement of the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2019, awarded to the Late HM Sultan Qaboos in March 2021, which it says created immense goodwill for India.
Heritage projects
The Indian Embassy, in association with the National Archives of India (NAI), carried out a special digitization and oral history project titled "The Oman Collection - Archival Heritage of the Indian Community in Oman" from 19 to 27 May 2024. The brief describes it as the first of its kind. Over 7,000 historical records of 32 old Indian diaspora families, living in Oman for more than 250 years, were digitised.
The records included personal diaries, account books, trade invoices, passports and letters. They date from 1838 to the early 20th century and are in English, Arabic, Gujarati and Hindi.
The Embassy also organised the "Mandvi to Muscat" lecture series over 8 months, from October 2023 to May 2024. It was inaugurated on 19 October 2023 by the then Minister of State for External Affairs Shri V. Muraleedharan. The series aimed to renew awareness of the story and history of the Indian community in Oman and its contributions to India-Oman ties, and it featured academics, historians and anthropologists from Oman, India, the US and the UAE.
Cultural and education agreements
The brief lists Tourism and Cultural Cooperation among the areas covered by key bilateral agreements and MoUs. During the State visit of Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik to India in December 2023, the two sides signed an MoU in the field of Culture and an MoU for the establishment of the ICCR Chair of Indian Studies-Hindi Language at Dhofar University.
The Prime Minister's visit to Oman in December 2025 produced an MoU on Maritime Heritage and Museums and an MoU on Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills Development.
The Indian community
Oman hosts a sizeable Indian community, totalling approximately 674,950 (Males: 520,437; Females: 154,513) as on February 2026, according to the Government of Oman. According to data from Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) for May 2026, 526,496 Indian nationals hold work visas.
Some Indian families have roots in Oman going back more than 150-200 years.
Thousands of Indians work in Oman as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, teachers, lecturers, nurses and managers, among other professions. The brief states that the Omani Government often acknowledges the role played by the Indian expatriate community in building Oman.
Schools, clubs and places of worship
According to the brief, 22 Indian schools offer a curriculum catering to the educational needs of more than 48000 students.
The Indian community is organised under Indian Social Clubs in Muscat, Salalah, Sohar and Sur. These clubs have several sub-groups, called Linguistic Wings, which cater to their members' cultural and social needs.
The Hindu merchant community has two temples, one of them over a century old, and cremation grounds. Churches have been permitted, and a Gurudwara has existed for over two decades, along with at least two other temporary structures used as Gurudwaras.
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards
The Government of India has recognised the contributions of Indians and People of Indian Origin in Oman to bilateral relations through the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards. The awardees from Oman are:
- Shri Kanaksi Khimji (2003)
- Dr. P. Mohamed Ali (2004)
- P.N.C. Menon (2009)
- S.K. Virmani (2010)
- Kiran Asher (2012)
- R.M Parakh (2015)
- Dr. Vinodan V. T. (2019)