US tariff on Indian exports | Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge asks Centre to act fast

Stating that 'so-called proximity' with the US had not yielded any results for India, Kharge said that 'in fact, it has become quite devastating for smaller manufacturers as well'.

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the US decision to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports, Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday urged the Centre to take swift and decisive action to protect the country's electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

Pointing out that the US imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports, the minister said it could undermine the country's competitiveness against emerging rivals like Vietnam.

"Since India is competing with countries like Vietnam and China, Indonesia, and the US imposed a 25 per cent tariff on us.....Vietnam at 20 per cent," he told media persons here on the sideline of the Road Show of Bengaluru Tech Summit from Delhi.

Insisting that the state government is ready to support the central government, he said the Centre has to take proactive decisions to safeguard India's interests.

Noting that everybody is looking at the Centre for its decision on this issue, the Minister said, “We have spoken to a few people. And of course, they're also a little uncertain, and they don't want to have any knee-jerk reactions for whatever the American government has to say."

As American president Donald Trump is working to protect his country’s interest, our government must work to protect India’s interest, he said.

Geographical boundaries have become almost non-existent, due to factors like technology, cost of labour, cost of production, innovation, and cost of servicing the entire supply chain is very important, he noted.

Stating that "so-called proximity" with the US had not yielded any results for India, Kharge said, "in fact, it has become quite devastating for smaller manufacturers as well. So this is something that I think the central government needs to pull up, get their act together on".

Insisting that it is still too early to assess the response of the entire ecosystem, Kharge said, "So we'll have to wait-and-watch and see before I can comment anything on the entire ecosystem... It's just not about Apple or about Foxconn. It's just not about their OEMs. We are manufacturing on scale for various components across sectors, whether it is smartphones, semiconductors or space tech. And I think we should see this ecosystem as a whole and not for one particular company."