India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke at the Post-Budget 2025 Conference, where she addressed important trade and tariff-related questions. She emphasized India’s efforts to simplify customs duties, make trade easier, and create a business-friendly environment for investors.
Sitharaman explained that India has been making changes to its customs duty policies for the past two years, and the 2025 budget continues this effort. The government has been working on reducing and rationalizing taxes on imports to make India more attractive for businesses and foreign investors.
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“We are making India an investor-friendly country. The tax reductions and policy changes announced in the budget are part of this process, and we will keep working on them,” she said.
She also mentioned that the government regularly reviews and updates safeguard duties and anti-dumping duties (which are taxes imposed to protect local businesses from unfair foreign competition).
One of the key highlights of the conference was India’s trade relationship with the United States. A senior Finance Ministry official, responding on behalf of the Finance Minister, referred to a joint statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump, which confirmed that both countries are working towards a bilateral trade agreement.
“India and the U.S. have agreed to finalize a trade deal by Fall 2025. The statement also mentions that both countries have taken reciprocal steps to make trade easier for each other,” Sitharaman said.
Finance Ministry official provided details about India’s import duties (taxes on goods brought into the country). Out of 8,000 different product categories, about 6,000 have import duties below 10%. She noted that most imports from the U.S. to India have very low duty rates, usually ranging from 0% to 2.5%.
However, the official acknowledged that some products still have high import taxes. For example, textiles and apparel (clothing) face higher tariffs in both India and the U.S. The official mentioned that this issue will likely be addressed during future negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Another topic the official touched upon was the reciprocal tariff bill, which is a proposed law that could affect how India and the U.S. impose tariffs on each other’s products. However, the official clarified that this bill is still in the early stages of discussion.
“The bill is an idea at this point, and we don’t yet know what final form it will take,” she explained.
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With trade talks between India and the U.S. gaining speed, many important topics like tariffs, import duties, and business regulations will be discussed in the coming months. The goal is to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries and resolve issues related to trade barriers.
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