Textile and shrimp stocks surged on September 2 after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confidence that Washington and New Delhi can resolve the ongoing trade jitters, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned from China after attending the SCO Summit.
Speaking to Fox News, Bessent said, "I think at the end of the day, two great countries will get this solved." He said the slow progress in India-US trade talks was one of the reasons behind US President Donald Trump-led US administration's decision to raise tariffs.
He however criticised India's imports of Russian oil, which he said might be fueling Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. "The Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine," he said.
Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, Bessent said it is largely performative. "I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China's than to Russia's," he added.
Bessent's remarks may have spurred trade talk hopes between India and US, triggering a rally in the export-oriented textile and shrimp stocks.
Gokaldas Exports shares jumped nearly 5 percent to trade at Rs 733 apiece, while KPR Mill shares surged nearly 3 percent. Raymond Lifestyle shares gained more than 3 percent, while Arvind Fashions sharers rose nearly 3 percent.
Avanti Feeds shares rallied around 7 percent, while Apex Frozen Foods shares jumped more than 4 percent.
Notably, these companies derive a major portion of their revenue from US exports. These stocks earlier tumbled after US increased its tariffs on Indian imports to a whopping 50 percent, the highest among its Asian peers.
US President Donald Trump recently lashed out at India, calling the relationship between India and US "a totally one-sided disaster". In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest “client,” but we sell them very little … They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago."
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