While the manufacturers want higher Customs duty to make imports costlier and encourage the domestic industry, the department has called for a reduction in the duty to bring down the cost of imported devices.
This is the same level as the peak rate of the Association of South East Asian Nations.
'As negotiations continue, the path forward demands not only diplomatic skill, but also vigilance against legal asymmetries embedded in America's trade playbook.'
Tata Steel's UK operations, which have largely been a struggle since the acquisition, are expected to turn earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda)-positive this financial year (2025-26/FY26) and possibly profitable by the next. Responding to shareholder queries at Tata Steel's annual general meeting, Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said, "We expect the UK to perform much better this year compared to last year - it will definitely be Ebitda-positive."
India's merchandise exports to the US rose by 16.93 per cent to $8.83 billion in May, while imports dipped by 5.76 per cent to $3.62 billion during the month, according to the commerce ministry data. During April-May, the country's exports to the US increased by 21.78 per cent to $17.25 billion, while imports rose by 25.8 per cent to $8.87 billion, the data showed.
Only the government's emphasis on infrastructure, special announcements on key sectors like telecom, automobiles, etc in the coming Budget can bring cheer to the plastic industry.
Indian drugmakers supply 47 per cent of the generic medicine requirements in the US, and tariffs would have increased prices in the US domestic market for patients, who are already dealing with drug shortages.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and five members of his team were stopped for an hour at the Mumbai airport by customs officials for not paying customs duty for six luxury watches as the payment facility was not operational in the early hours of Saturday, an official said.
With the United States adopting protectionist policies and hiking import duties, a trade war like situation has emerged.
Sources had said in a meeting last month, the empowered group of ministers on food, headed by finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had recommended that the import duty on rice be scrapped.
Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has presented a forward-looking Budget, reinforcing the government's commitment to 'Reform, Perform, and Transform'.
The US Trade Representative noted that India's average applied tariff rate stood at 17% per cent, the highest of any major world economy.
Seeks removal of custom duty on commodity polymers and cut in others, but also seeks hike in customs duty on plastic products
The tyre industry has urged the Central Government for recast of India's Free Trade Agreements
Mobile phones and TV sets manufactured in India would become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of their components but smokers would have to pay more as the government has increased taxes.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump is "pulling a military dragnet" across Los Angeles.
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the impact of the US reciprocal tariff will be limited on India as the economy is domestically oriented with less reliance on exports. YeeFarn Phua, Director, Sovereigns and International Public Finance Ratings, Asia-Pacific S&P Global also said India will clock a 6.7-6.8 per cent GDP growth over the next two years.
Adani Ports, NTPC, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies and Sun Pharma were among the other big gainers. However, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were amonh the major laggards.
Following the lacklustre growth numbers in the second quarter (Q2FY25), economists believe the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26 should focus on reforms that will stimulate consumption, manufacturing and spur employment. India's growth unexpectedly slowed to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, due to low capital formation, weak consumption, besides adverse weather impact.
The government on Wednesday slashed customs duties on petrol and diesel by 5.0 per cent while cutting excise duties by 3.0 per cent, as part of efforts to check inflation that crossed 7.6 per cent.
The latest deployment comes on the same day California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a judge to declare the deployments unconstitutional.
India will never provide company or enterprise-specific incentives in the electric vehicle sector, a top government official said on Friday, amid a push from American electric carmaker Tesla for special sops to set up its factory in the country. If the government has to consider providing incentives then it will only be for all EV makers and entrants who want to come to India, the official said. The official added that inter-ministerial discussions have happened on the customs duty concession demand of the US-based electric car maker Tesla, but "we never" came to any conclusion on those.
On the back of robust tax collection, the ratio of direct taxes to gross domestic product (GDP) this financial year is likely to be the highest in this century so far. This, along with strong goods and services tax (GST) collection, may drive up receipts from central taxes as a proportion of GDP to the highest level or close to the highest since 2008-09 despite subdued excise and customs duty receipts. This will be due also to lower nominal GDP projected in the first advance estimates for 2023-24.
The only saving grace in indirect tax collection during the month was 29.6 per cent rise in service tax realisation.
'If you invest in sovereign gold bond, you are going to get the price rise of gold over an eight year period.' 'You're also going to get that two-and-a-half percent which the Government of India is willing to give you, treating the money that you've invested in the sovereign gold bond as a kind of a FD or a deposit.' 'That kind of return you can never get anywhere else.'
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead a team of senior Indian officials to Washington starting May 16 for discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said on Tuesday. Goyal is expected to hold meetings with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during his visit.
The probe agency is learnt to have taken possession of multiple physical and digital records during a search operation conducted on the premises of the South Korean firm in Delhi and Mumbai this week.
A team of senior officials from India will again visit Washington this month to hold discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), government sources said on Thursday. To give impetus to the talks, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had last month held three-day talks in Washington.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs may consider slashing customs duty on petrol and diesel from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.
In a move to boost trade with India, the Pakistan cabinet has approved an additional list of over 200 Indian products for customs duty concession under South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement.
Market reaction to the Union Budget was overall neutral. The income tax "gift" wasn't enough to move the needle. There was some apparent rationalisation of Customs duty structure as well as cuts on import duties of some key components for the telecom and IT industry and duty cuts on vehicle imports. Other proposals related to development of agriculture and rural economy and renewables seem to be generally positive.
Cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has been raised by Rs 50 per cylinder by distribution companies, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
Simplifying investment policies at the micro level and introducing a time-bound framework will be critical for India's growth targets, notes Krishna Ella.
In 2015, India chemicals industry had a market size of $144 billion.
US President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to impose high tariffs on three of its trading partners, including China will provide huge export opportunities for India and the domestic industry should prepare itself to tap into that, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday. Trump last week vowed to introduce 25 per cent tariffs (or customs duty) on imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10 per cent on China.
