Penal tariffs imposed on India by US will be removed by November 30: CEA

India’s Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday said that he believes that the United States will withdraw its penal tariffs against India by November 30.

“The original reciprocal tariff of 25%, plus the penal tariff of 25% were not anticipated. I still believe that geopolitical circumstances may have led to the second 25% tariff. But considering recent developments in the last couple of weeks and so on, I do believe that penal tariff will not be beyond November 30,” Nageswaran said.

“It is my hope, given that both countries are finding an off-ramp and reaching out to each other. Equally, the important negotiator being in India in the first two days of this week, I would believe that there would be a resolution in the next couple of months on the penal tariff and hopefully on the reciprocal tariff,” he added.

"My hunch is that in the next eight to ten weeks, we will likely see a solution to the penal tariff imposed by the US on Indian goods," Nageswaran said.

The 50% tariffs on Indian goods exported to the US have diminished prospects for India’s ambitions to develop its manufacturing sector, particularly in higher value-added sectors such as electronics, according to Moody’s.

“We think that the announced tariffs will reduce 2025 GDP growth by 0.3%. Some of this is also due to lower global growth and higher uncertainty. However, if tariffs ratchet up to 50%, the reduction in India’s GDP will be greater and could be as high as 0.7%,” Gaurav Ganguly, Head of International Economics, Moody's Analytics, told Fortune India earlier.