US tariff cut sparks hopes of job revival in India’s textile hubs

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru | Mumbai: Relief will start trickling into India’s export hubs, where months of weak orders and job losses had followed the steep tariff hike by the US, the country's largest export market. Washington's move to cut tariffs on Indian goods is set to ease the pressure on labour-intensive exporters, such as textiles and gems and jewellery.

This will potentially reverse job losses in manufacturing hubs such as Tiruppur and Surat after a year of muted orders forced factories to shed thousands of workers. After prolonged negotiations between the two sides, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a trade deal, under which Washington will cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from roughly 50%. “About 7-10 million people are working in the textile industry.

When the 50% tariffs were announced last year, US buyers continued sourcing from India but at steep discounts," said Prabhu Damodaran, convenor at the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Coimbatore. In clusters such as Tiruppur, most units saw severe demand disruption, triggering turbulence and uncertainty at both company and workforce levels. With the EU and US trade deals now in place, every additional $1 billion in exports can generate nearly 1.5 lakh direct jobs, he said.

The Tiruppur cluster in Tamil Nadu, which employs around 800,000 workers and exported goods worth nearly ₹40,000 crore ($4.79 billion) in FY25, could now see order volumes surge as buyers return, according to Mitali Nikore, economist and founder of Nikore Associates. Exporters are hopeful too and are set to work around the increased workflow. “Tiruppur is one of the largest exporters of textiles to the US, and about 30% of