Labour-intensive sectors are expected to gain the most, including textiles and apparel, gems and jewellery, leather products, agricultural goods, seafood, pharmaceuticals, electronics and chemicals.
An executive at the Apparel Export Promotion Council said on condition of anonymity that summer shipment bookings will resume in the coming days.
Narendra Goenka, who heads Mumbai-based textiles exporter Texport Industries Pvt. Ltd, said the revised tariff regime will help Indian textile exporters scale up orders, especially as global buyers look to diversify sourcing and lock in long-term supply contracts.
“With tariffs on competing countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and China remaining higher, though by a small margin, we see a major opportunity to cash in on the improved cost advantage and expand our share in the US market,” Goenka said, adding that the immediate gain would be the return of US buyers, who had paused orders earlier due to the 50% tariff.
“Buyers were looking to shift part of their sourcing from other countries to India to avoid the risk of over-dependence on a single country, but those plans had stalled because of the steep duty. With the tariff relief, that sourcing shift is now expected to move forward,” Goenka told Mint over the phone.
Beyond textiles, the tariff relief is expected to have an even sharper impact on gems and jewellery, one of India’s largest export categories to the US.
The sector—which lost significant share in the American market following the imposition of 50% tariff—is eyeing a nearly 30% rise in its total exports following an expected zero-tariff regime for gems and diamonds, said Vipul Shah, former chairman of the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
“With the deal announced and the sector getting significant relief from US tariff pressure, business will improve and could hopefully double over the next couple of years,” said Shah, who is also chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of Mumbai-based Asian Star, a prominent diamond company.
Total exports of gems and jewellery in April-November 2025 stood at $3.12 billion, half of the $6.3 billion exports in the same period of the previous fiscal year, data from the commerce ministry showed. In the full fiscal of FY25, the sector had recorded exports of around $10 billion.
Apart from manufacturing-heavy segments, consumer-facing sectors such as seafood, Ayurveda, agriculture and electronics are also expected to benefit from the tariff cut.
Vachaspati Tripathi, managing director of Varanasi-based Surya Pharmaceuticals, which exports traditional medicines, including to the US, said the tariff relief provides a big opportunity for exports of Ayurveda formulations.
“Lower duties will improve price competitiveness and make Indian products more attractive for buyers, especially at a time when demand for natural and traditional medicines is rising in the US,” Tripathi said. “This will help companies like ours expand volumes, enter new retail channels, and strengthen our long-term presence in the American market.”
India exported herbal and Ayush (Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathy) products worth $689.34 million in FY25 and $651.17 million the previous year, according to the commerce ministry’s data. The Indian Ayush market is estimated to grow to $200 billion by 2030 from $40 billion in 2024, according to projections from India Brand Equity Foundation (Ibef), a body registered under the ministry of commerce.
Prabhat Kumar, chairman of Pan IIT Alumni India, said improved market access, alignment of standards, and the reduction of non-tariff barriers would speed up collaboration in ICT (information and communication technologies), electronics and emerging technologies, adding that this could help Indian firms integrate more deeply with US technology supply chains and attract higher-value investments over the medium term.
What the joint statement says
As per the joint statement on the first tranche of the India–US trade deal, tariffs on all Indian goods have been reduced to 18% from 50%. The 18% duty will apply over and above the existing MFN tariff, which averages around 2.8%.
Even so, the overall tariff burden on Indian exports will be lower than that faced by key competing countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and Thailand.
According to government officials, the deal would also help stimulate job creation, align trade expansion with employment generation, and support Washington’s efforts to diversify supply chains away from China.
Industry executives added that stronger access to the US market could encourage fresh investment, deeper integration with American value chains, and a gradual move by Indian firms towards higher-value products.
Exports data
In FY25, India’s exports to the US were led by electronics goods at $14.59 billion, followed by drugs and pharmaceuticals at $10.5 billion, textiles at $10.32 billion, and gems and jewellery at around $10 billion, according to government and industry data.
Organic and inorganic chemicals accounted for exports worth about $4.2 billion, while marine products stood at $2.7 billion. Exports of rice were valued at $392 million, fruits and vegetables at $331 million, and leather goods at $948 million.
Bilateral trade in goods between India and the US rose to $131.84 billion in FY25, growing 10.13% over the previous year’s $119.7 billion, according to commerce ministry data.
Indian goods exports to the US increased 11.6%, from $77.52 billion in FY24 to $86.51 billion in FY25. Imports from the US rose by a smaller margin of 7.42%, from $42.20 billion in FY24 to $45.33 billion in FY25.