Piyush Goyal downplays US tariff impact, says India largely domestic-driven economy

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday downplayed the concerns that have emerged over the potential impact of US tariffs on India’s economy and stressed that the country remains predominantly domestic-driven.

“India is predominantly a domestic economy, our exports as a part of our GDP is still relatively low and our imports are much higher,” Goyal said, a day after the key GST Council meet.

Highlighting trade figures, Goyal noted that India’s exports to the US had already crossed $40–43 billion between April and August this year, compared to $86 billion in the previous fiscal. “We still have seven months to go,” he said, adding that reciprocal tariffs were not across the board but limited to 55–60% of exports.

Goyal further pointed out that newer markets were opening up as the US action on tariffs extended to many other countries. “Newer markets are opening up, the action on tariffs are on many other countries, which opens up trade with many other countries. We are looking at 50 nations on where we have trade compatibility,” he added.