Goyal discourses export strategies with merchants, deliberates on tariff effects
On August 2, 2025, Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held meetings in Mumbai with exporters from various sectors to discuss strategies for countering the impact of the 25% US tariffs and enhancing India’s exports and competitiveness globally.
The minister engaged with leaders from sectors such as apparel, engineering, agriculture, food processing, seafood, textiles, chemicals, fisheries, IT, pharma, and leather. The discussions focused on finding ways to increase the value-added exports of various sectors in India, expand India's role in global value chains, and weave India's rise as a global textiles powerhouse, as well as the steel industry.
Key strategies highlighted include:
- Product-Specific Support Measures: The government is likely to adopt a product-specific approach targeting merchandise exporters in competition with countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh facing lower US tariffs. This support aims to minimize cost disadvantages due to US tariffs through enhanced export incentives, which may include increased tax remission outlays, marketing support, interest subvention, or a combination of these measures.
- Export Incentive Schemes: There is consideration to enhance schemes such as the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), which currently covers over 10,500 products with refund rates ranging from 0.3% to 3.9%. The budgetary allocation for this is expected to rise significantly to support exporters affected by tariffs.
- Consultative Meetings for Sectoral Inputs: Goyal held consultations to gather detailed impact assessments from exporters to tailor support effectively. Sectors directly affected include textiles and clothing, gems and jewellery, shrimp, leather and footwear, chemicals, and electrical/mechanical machinery.
- Trade Negotiations & Firm Stance: Alongside domestic measures, India is engaged in trade negotiations with the US, scheduled to continue with the sixth round in late August, while maintaining firm positions on sensitive issues like agriculture and genetically modified products.
- Requests from Exporters: Exporters have sought affordable credit facilities and production-linked incentives (PLIs) to sustain operations amid order cancellations and delayed shipments caused by the tariff hike. The government is evaluating these demands amid fiscal constraints.
- Mitigating Export Declines and Job Losses: Acknowledging the risk of a potential 30% drop in goods exports to the US in FY26 and resultant job losses, the government is prioritizing strategies to keep exporters viable and competitive, including financial and marketing support to maintain market presence at competitive prices.
The discussions in Mumbai also included topics such as sustainability, innovation, and value chain integration in various sectors. Goyal had an insightful interaction in Mumbai with leading industry captains from the textiles sector to discuss bold ideas for enhancing global competitiveness, sustainability, innovation, and value chain integration.
The minister also held productive dialogues with major steel producers in Mumbai and engaged with leaders of the engineering goods sector. His statements indicate his focus on ideas like advanced tech adoption, reducing logistics costs, increasing iron ore production, and making MSMEs more competitive.
Goyal's social media posts indicate that he is actively engaging with various sectors to discuss export strategies and global competitiveness. His meetings in Mumbai were aimed at ensuring that India moves up the global value chain and finding ways to increase the value-added exports of various sectors in India. The minister expressed his anticipation for a collaborative roadmap ahead to forge a resilient and future-ready steel industry. The discussions in Mumbai were also aimed at finding ways to improve India's food and nutritional security through value-added exports.
- Minister Piyush Goyal discussed strategies to increase the competitiveness of India's food processing industry in the global market, aiming to improve food and nutritional security through value-added exports.
- In his meeting with textile industry leaders, the minister emphasized the need for adopting advanced technology, reducing logistics costs, and making small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) more competitive.
- The government is considering requests from exporters for affordable credit facilities and production-linked incentives (PLIs) to help sustain their operations amid order cancellations and delayed shipments due to US tariffs.
- To counter the impact of US tariffs and enhance India's exports, the government is likely to adopt a product-specific approach, offering increased tax remission outlays, marketing support, interest subvention, or a combination of these measures to merchandise exporters.
- Minister Goyal engaged with major steel producers in Mumbai and highlighted the importance of increasing iron ore production and making MSMEs more competitive as key strategies for the steel industry's growth and global competitiveness.
