Overview

• Combined duties of roughly 50% on many Indian products took effect on August 27, following a 25% reciprocal tariff from August 7 and an additional 25% penalty linked by Washington to India’s purchases of Russian crude.
• The sixth round of bilateral trade agreement talks scheduled for August 25 was postponed, with officials indicating formal negotiations hinge on addressing the penalty levy, though 2+2 and other official-level engagements continue.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman convened inter-ministerial meetings with industry as the government considers liquidity support, faster rollout of the Export Promotion Mission, loan moratoria, and other credit measures.
• A proposal reported by Mint would partially offset exporters’ price cuts on U.S.-bound consignments by about 10–15%, but officials have not announced any final package.
• India’s exports to the U.S. rose 21.64% to $33.53 billion in April–July on front-loading, while labour‑intensive sectors such as textiles, leather, footwear, gems and jewellery, shrimp and chemicals face competitiveness risks, with $48.2–60 billion in trade estimated to be affected.