Officials said reducing testing charges for smaller exporters levied by the Export Inspection Council could also be looked at to ease exporters’ concerns on the adverse impact of the tariffs on India’s exports.
“It is important for Indian exporters to do brand building and promotion to come out of the clutches of any subsidies amid the US tariffs,” said an official, adding that the brand promotion exercise can be jointly done by export promotion councils and the India Brand Equity Foundation.
Washington has imposed an across-the-board 25% tariff on all Indian-origin goods, effective August 7, along with an unspecified penalty. India’s competitors including Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Turkey are in the 15-20% range.
The steep duty could hurt nearly half of India’s exports of more than $85 billion to the US. Textiles could be one of the worst-hit with $4 billion of business such as t-shirts and home textiles bearing the brunt, especially due to lower tariffs imposed on India’s rivals.The commerce and industry ministry has also asked sectors such as marine food products to suggest if any scheme based on incremental hiring can be worked out as Ecuador, a major shrimp producer, would face a comparatively lower 15% tariff.”While India has a 25% tariff and a penalty, there is a feeling that many countries may not be able to create capacities soon. Even clients will not shift to Ecuador overnight,” said a representative of an export promotion body, adding that the tariffs have lowered the possibility of the India-US bilateral trade pact negotiations ending any time soon.
The government is also considering a proposal to reintroduce interest subsidy on credit to MSME exporters under the proposed Export Promotion Mission.
“If some exporter wants wheat or rice as an intermediate product, the ministry has proposed that the Food Corporation of India can offer these at a fixed price,” said an exporter of food products.
