Electronics export goal faces US tariff wall

The central government's ambitious target of reaching an electronics production value of $500 billion—of which $200 billion is expected to come from exports by 2030—could face a serious challenge due to the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on all countries announced by US President Donald Trump a few days ago.

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

Donald Trump a few days ago. The US is the largest market for India's electronics exports, accounting for 33 per cent of the total as of 2023-24 (FY24). Electronics is already the third-largest merchandise export category at $22.54 billion (between April and November 2024), behind only engineering and petroleum products.

According to industry estimates, which are being compiled into a detailed analysis for discussion with the government, the average duty on electronics imports across roughly 477 Harmonized System (HS) Code items in India is over 9 per cent. In comparison, the average tariff on electronic imports in the US is just over 1 per cent, with nearly 80 per cent of the items falling under the zero-duty category. As a result, India's average tariff on electronics is 8 per cent higher than that of the US.