<p>New Delhi: India will roll out a package of measures to help exporters hurt by a surge in U.S. tariffs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.</p><p>The new U.S. duties slapped on Indian goods last month included a 25% punitive levy over New Delhi’s Russian oil purchases - taking overall duties as high as 50% on a wide range of items from garments and jewellery to footwear and chemicals.</p><p>"Government will come out with something to handhold those who have been hit by 50% tariffs," Sitharaman told CNBC TV18, without going into further detail.</p><p>The government plans to offer credit guarantees on loans overdue by up to 90 days for small businesses and exporters, Reuters reported earlier, citing government sources.</p><p>Exporters said labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, jewellery and seafood, particularly shrimp – which all operate on margins of just 3%-5% - have been hit hardest, causing job losses in industrial hubs in Tamil Nadu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.</p>.US lawmaker says Trump’s tariffs threaten ‘vital relationship’ with India.<p>"Textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tiruppur, Noida and Surat have halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness," S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said.</p><p>The tariffs, among the highest imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, delivered a serious blow to ties between the two powerful democracies that had in recent decades become strategic partners.</p><p>Nearly 55% of Indian exports to the U.S., worth about $48 billion, now face a cost disadvantage against rivals from Vietnam, China and Bangladesh, Ralhan said last week ahead of an exporters' meeting with the finance minister.</p><p>Thousands of workers have already been laid off, exporters have said.</p>
<p>New Delhi: India will roll out a package of measures to help exporters hurt by a surge in U.S. tariffs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday.</p><p>The new U.S. duties slapped on Indian goods last month included a 25% punitive levy over New Delhi’s Russian oil purchases - taking overall duties as high as 50% on a wide range of items from garments and jewellery to footwear and chemicals.</p><p>"Government will come out with something to handhold those who have been hit by 50% tariffs," Sitharaman told CNBC TV18, without going into further detail.</p><p>The government plans to offer credit guarantees on loans overdue by up to 90 days for small businesses and exporters, Reuters reported earlier, citing government sources.</p><p>Exporters said labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, jewellery and seafood, particularly shrimp – which all operate on margins of just 3%-5% - have been hit hardest, causing job losses in industrial hubs in Tamil Nadu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.</p>.US lawmaker says Trump’s tariffs threaten ‘vital relationship’ with India.<p>"Textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tiruppur, Noida and Surat have halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness," S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said.</p><p>The tariffs, among the highest imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, delivered a serious blow to ties between the two powerful democracies that had in recent decades become strategic partners.</p><p>Nearly 55% of Indian exports to the U.S., worth about $48 billion, now face a cost disadvantage against rivals from Vietnam, China and Bangladesh, Ralhan said last week ahead of an exporters' meeting with the finance minister.</p><p>Thousands of workers have already been laid off, exporters have said.</p>