US tariff cuts set to revive summer bookings, exports to double in 4-5 years

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : With US tariffs sharply reduced and policy uncertainty easing, Indian exporters are gearing up to resume exports at the revised duty rates. Industry executives say the move could double India’s exports to the US over the next four to five years.

Labour-intensive sectors are expected to gain the most, including textiles and apparel, gems and jewellery, leather products, agricultural goods, seafood, pharmaceuticals, electronics and chemicals. An executive at the Apparel Export Promotion Council said on condition of anonymity that summer shipment bookings will resume in the coming days. Narendra Goenka, who heads Mumbai-based textiles exporter Texport Industries Pvt.

Ltd, said the revised tariff regime will help Indian textile exporters scale up orders, especially as global buyers look to diversify sourcing and lock in long-term supply contracts. “With tariffs on competing countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and China remaining higher, though by a small margin, we see a major opportunity to cash in on the improved cost advantage and expand our share in the US market," Goenka said, adding that the immediate gain would be the return of US buyers, who had paused orders earlier due to the 50% tariff. “Buyers were looking to shift part of their sourcing from other countries to India to avoid the risk of over-dependence on a single country, but those plans had stalled because of the steep duty.

With the tariff relief, that sourcing shift is now expected to move forward," Goenka told Mint over the phone. Beyond textiles, the tariff relief is expected to have an even sharper impact on gems and jewellery, one of India’s largest export categories to the US. The sector—which lost