India-US deal is Kisan Surakshit, Bharat Viksit, 100% protects farmers: Piyush Goyal<\/a><\/p>\nChristening the deal \u201cKisan Surakshit, Bharat Viksit (secure farmer, developed India) Agreement\u201d, Goyal, in an exclusive interview with The Tribune, today said the government\u2019s aim was an eight-fold growth in the Indian economy from $4 trillion today to $30 trillion plus by 2047.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US deal will certainly speed up our journey to become the third largest economy. My own sense is that in two and a half years, we will become the world\u2019s third largest economy. More importantly, we want to see India grow eight times to a 30 trillion dollar plus economy. I am confident that nine free trade agreements covering 38 developed countries which we have done will help this goal,\u201d Goyal said.<\/p>\n
As India\u2019s chief interlocutor for the US deal, the minister said it offered a win-win for both nations and \u201cprotects primary interests of Indian farmers 100 per cent\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our products will now enjoy a reciprocal tariff lower than competition. Ultimately, trade is about comparative advantage and our reciprocal tariff is now less than all other emerging markets or developing countries. So, we have an edge. Nearly half of our exports continue to be at zero reciprocal tariff. Pharmaceuticals and smartphones will be at zero duty,\u201d Goyal said.<\/p>\n
Noting that the deal wasn\u2019t \u201clate\u201d and was done in ten and a half months of PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump meeting in February 2025 to commit to a $500 billion annual bilateral trade target by 2030, Goyal said both countries had struck a fine balance on sensitive sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an economy with per capita income of $3,000, we were more interested in labour intensive and farm sectors. We have been able to bring a very fine balance and create a win-win situation for both countries,\u201d the minister said, adding that several opportunities had opened up for leather, textiles, handicrafts, gems and diamonds, which would be at zero duty; auto components and aircraft parts, also at zero duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the deal has opened up a plethora of opportunities while protecting the interests of our farmers in all sensitive areas,\u201d Goyal said, listing \u201coff limit\u201d sectors as meat, poultry, dairy, cereals, GM foods and others where India is self-sufficient. \u201cAll primary interests of our farmers have been 100 per cent protected,\u201d the minister said, adding that Indian farmers would now have export opportunities both in 18 per cent and in zero per cent tariff segments. \u201cWe have zero duty now on all spices, teas, coffee, coconut, nuts, and many fruits and vegetables like avocados, bananas and shiitake mushrooms, which we produce in large quantities,\u201d the minister explained.<\/p>\n
Asked about India opening up the apple market for US imports, Goyal said India\u2019s apple demand was rising and \u201cwe still import 5.5 lakh tonnes annually, which is 25 per cent of the national production\u201d.<\/p>\n
The minister assured apple growers of adequate safeguards. \u201cWhat we have opened for the US is less than what we are currently importing from it. It will be a quota and we have also kept Rs 80 minimum import price plus Rs 20 duty on that. So, no imports below Rs 100. Apple farmers\u2019 incomes will go up as the demand rises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the question about the US making the withdrawal of 25 per cent punitive tariffs conditional upon India not buying Russian oil, Goyal said the matter was the External Affairs Ministry\u2019s domain.<\/p>\n
He dismissed the Congress-led Opposition\u2019s criticism of the agreement as \u201cunequal\u201d and said, \u201cThey are really ill-informed. They should study the information we have put in the public domain. It is a wonderful agreement in the interests of people, businesses. It will promote the growth story of India\u2026 Our foreign exchange reserves will go up as investments come in. In every respect, the agreement will serve 140 crore Indians as consumers, businesses across sectors, and help India become a developed nation by 2047.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Opposition\u2019s demand to discuss the deal in Parliament, the minister said in the past, trade deals had not been discussed in Parliament but the matter \u201cis for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman to decide\u201d.<\/p>\n
Goyal said for the deal to be converted into legal documentation \u201cit will take another month or a month and a half\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s a little premature to talk about parliamentary discussions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Goyal also described as \u201cvery achievable\u201d India\u2019s commitment in the deal to buy $500 billion worth of US goods in the next five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur estimate is that in the next five years, we need to import $2 trillion worth of products in technology, energy, airplanes and all. So, if $2 trillion products have to be imported, then clearly $500 billion coming from the world\u2019s largest economy is not impossible. But they\u2019ll have to compete with good prices, good quality,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
On whether there will be scope for a mid-term review of the deal, Goyal said, \u201cEvery agreement always puts this in. So, I\u2019m sure when we come up with the final documents, we\u2019ll be putting in this clause.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Full interview on www.tribuneindia.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the India-US interim trade deal was a robust…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-457699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}