INDIA UNSTOPPABLE

DESPITE GLOBAL CHAOS AND TRUMP-ERA TARIFFS, INDIA'S ENGINES CONSUMPTION, UPT, GST AND RESILIENCE KEEP IT CRUISING NEAR 7% GROWTH

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There is an air of pessimism worldwide following the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on the products of many countries (including India) and the two big wars in Europe and the Middle East.

However, in the past one-and-a-half months, a ceasefire - albeit fragile - is still holding in the Middle East, but there is no end in sight to the Russia-Ukraine war.

On the economic front, however, there is slight forward movement - Trump has already struck trade deals with several countries. With India, several rounds of negotiations have been held and, while several of these earlier ones ended with no result, finally a little light is visible at the end of the tunnel.

A deal between the two countries could be struck as early as the end of this month. “We are getting a fair deal,” Trump said just a few days ago in Washington. “We are making a deal with India, a much different deal than we had in the past,” he added.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks between the two countries was India’s import of Russian oil. Now that India has considerably reduced its import - and will most likely end it soon - a major irritant has been removed. Importantly, the US has rolled back tariffs on nearly 200 food and farm items following inflationary pressures in the US and the consequent political pressure arising from it.

High grocery bills were cited as one of the reasons why Trump’s party - the Republican Party - lost several elections recently. This has forced Trump to trim tariffs on several products, which also included some items from India. The rate trimming was not part of any deal but was primarily due to political necessity for Trump.

He has now removed tariffs on some food imports such as black pepper, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, cloves, as well as on some varieties of tea. Cashew exporters from India too will benefit from the move.