
US tariff blow stuns gem and textile sectors
The industry was expecting an extension of the tariff deadline, but the announcement has now cast uncertainty over trade commitments made earlier this year. "Manufacturing for orders booked during the June 2025 JCK Las Vegas exhibition is already underway. These orders may now be blocked due to the new tariff and penalty," said Amit Korat, president of the Surat Jewellery Manufacturers Association (SJMA).
The Las Vegas show, known as the world's largest jewellery exhibition, typically generates fresh business for manufacturers worldwide for the next seven to eight months.
However, the latest US tariff decision is expected to put the already struggling diamond trade under significant pressure.
"The announcement is not yet official, and we are waiting for a notification to come. We hope that there will be a reduction in the tariff considering the overall market conditions," said a Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) official.
"It is going to hurt severely if the announced tariff and penalty come into force.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
No annual fees for life
UnionBank Credit Card
Apply Now
Undo
The US is the largest market for polished diamonds in Surat, and our industry will be under tremendous pressure," said a leading diamond manufacturer.
Leaders in the textile sector are concerned about rising export costs and declining demand. "Exporters are already getting calls to put textile and garment shipments to the US on hold. These were orders scheduled to be dispatched soon," said an official from the Manmade and Technical Textiles Export Promotion Council (MATEXIL).
"With a 25% price hike, the end consumer in the US is unlikely to buy, and no fresh orders are expected for some time.
"
The US is a key market for India's home textile exports, and the sudden tariff announcement has caught the industry off guard. "Business was proceeding as usual until today. Exporters were receiving inquiries as recently as last week. We had hoped the tariff implementation would be delayed, allowing time for further discussions," said an industry official.
Textile manufacturers from the city were hoping for better business opportunities with the US since there is already a higher tariff rate for China. "But now, with a 25 percent tariff and penalty, the situation has become challenging for Indian textile exporters as well. The countries where the tariff is lower are at an advantage," said Vijay Mevawala, former president, Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI).
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
a few seconds ago
- Business Standard
Pharma Inc gear up for Day 1 launch of obesity drug in March 2026
As the global demand for next-generation diabetes and weight-loss therapies surge, Indian pharmaceutical companies are stepping up preparations to roll out generic versions of semaglutide—a blockbuster GLP-1 receptor agonist—once patent expires around March 2026. The generic launches will be significant, as the prices for the Indian consumer are expected to come down significantly from the current ₹17,000-26000 (monthly), thereby expanding the patient coverage. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), Cipla, Sun Pharma, and Mankind Pharma, and others are ramping up peptide manufacturing, forming device partnerships, and aligning regulatory strategies to capture a share of the global GLP-1 market, estimated to cross $150 billion by decade's end. Hyderabad-based DRL is planning Day 1 launches in India and Brazil, part of a 2026 global rollout across 87 countries. 'The semaglutide launch is very important to us,' said CEO Erez Israeli. The company aims to price its product below Novo Nordisk's current ₹17,000 monthly offering. DRL is also working on 26 GLP-1 therapies, backed by a ₹2,700 crore FY26 capex plan to scale peptide and biosimilar production. Cipla is targeting first-wave launches through a mix of in-house and partner filings. 'We see GLP-1 as one of the biggest therapy opportunities in the last five years,' said Umang Vohra, MD and global CEO at the post earnings call. The company is building parts of its GLP-1 supply chain internally while leveraging partnerships to ensure scalability. Cipla is also crafting an affordable strategy for India's price-sensitive market, betting that post-patent price erosion will be offset by volume growth. Mankind Pharma aims to launch both oral and injectable semaglutide generics and is advancing MKP10241, a novel oral obesity drug in Phase 2 trials in Australia. Sun Pharma, meanwhile, is progressing its investigational GLP-1 molecule Utreglutide, targeted for launch in four to five years. It has secured Phase III approval for semaglutide trials in India, even as it reports negligible impact of GLP-1 drugs on its existing diabetes portfolio. The race for a piece of India's ₹628 crore anti-obesity market, however, comes at a time when the Indian courts and drug regulator body are looking to monitor the unregulated use of weight loss drugs. According to sources, the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) has initiated work to form a panel after the Delhi High Court in July 2025 asked it to consult experts and relevant stakeholders to look into concerns arising out of approval for drug combinations being sold in the market for weight loss. The directive came in response to a public interest litigation filed by fitness entrepreneur Jitendra Chouksey, who had raised concerns about the marketing approval of drugs such as semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide for weight management, despite limited safety data and the absence of India-specific clinical trials. While disposing of the petition, the court asked the drug regulator to respond to the petitioner within three months. At present, India has two officially available semaglutide brands: Rybelsus (oral) and Wegovy (injectable), both from Danish major Novo Nordisk. Rybelsus is approved for treating Type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy was launched in June 2025 for weight management. US-based Eli Lilly's tirzepatide drug, Mounjaro, is also available in India for obesity management. Analysts say the semaglutide opportunity is also fuelling India's peptide manufacturing ecosystem. 'Formulation is no longer enough—companies need full-stack execution,' said Nirali Shah, Pharma Analyst at Ashika Group, pointing to DRL, Cipla, and Sun Pharma's early moves to secure pen delivery partnerships. Contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) like Anthem Biosciences and Syngene are positioning themselves to capture a larger share of the growing peptide segment. Device manufacturers, too, are scaling up to meet rising demand for injection pens. India's peptide CDMO market, currently valued at $80 million, is growing at a CAGR of 14 per cent and could become a global supplier base for GLP-1 drugs, said Nilaya Varma, CEO of Primus Partners.


Economic Times
a few seconds ago
- Economic Times
'India not needed...': Finfluencer Akshat Shrivastava shares why the next 10 years will be tough for Indian stock markets
Synopsis Akshat Shrivastava warns that Indian stock markets may face challenges due to India's limited role in the global AI race. He argues that India lacks the advantages of cost-effectiveness or a premium consumer base, hindering its participation in the AI-driven economic transformation. This innovation gap, according to Shrivastava, will negatively impact India's relative economic standing and stock market performance. Agencies Indian markets Finance educator and content creator Akshat Shrivastava has said that Indian stock markets could face a challenging next decade, arguing that India does not have a meaningful role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race. Shrivastava linked India's future economic and market performance to its relative position in global technological began by stating that economies are shaped by innovation cycles. From Dutch shipbuilding and the UK's Industrial Revolution to US-led factory automation, he said each major economic shift has been led by disruptive technology. 'Wealth does not appear out of thin air. It is systematically build on the back of technological innovation,' he to him, AI is now becoming that next core innovation shaping the global economy—comparable to the internet boom of the late 1990s. AI is driving transformations in energy, manufacturing, learning, and computing, he said, adding that with tools like large language models (LLMs), 'anyone can technically reap the benefits of coding, without being a coder.'Explaining the global innovation structure, Shrivastava referenced the 'hub and spoke' model, where a few countries act as innovation hubs while others operate as peripheral beneficiaries. In the past, India benefited from this structure by becoming a spoke in the US-led IT outsourcing boom. — Akshat_World (@Akshat_World) However, Shrivastava suggested India is missing out in the current wave. 'China and US: are in a AI race. China has already built massive energy reserves (US is catching up). US has already built massive tech reserves (and one could argue China is catching up). This is the new arms race,' he wrote. Shrivastava raised a direct question: 'Why is India needed in this AI race?' He dismissed three possible advantages—data harvesting, cost-effective infrastructure, and a large consumer market—as either already exhausted or ineffective in India's case.'Can we lower the cost for AI infrastructure? (we have very high cost of energy and poor leakages in infra; so we can't). We can't build giga-factories. This is the reason why our manufacturing sucks,' he wrote. On the demand side, he pointed out that 'getting users to pay 20$/month is a challenge for LLMs right now.'According to Shrivastava, India lacks both a cost advantage like China and a premium-paying consumer base like the US. 'So where does India fit in the AI race?' he asked, answering that the country may see isolated economic success stories but will fall behind in global comparison.'Now of course: as the world becomes more productive. India will benefit too. That's obvious. Standard of living will improve. But, 'compared' to other countries, it will fall,' he said. He blamed 'decades of regressive economic policies, unnecessary pride and inability to look at things rationally' for the current concluded that this innovation gap will reflect in the markets. 'All this will reflect into the stock market. There is a reason why since 2020: FIIs have been consistently existing our markets,' he said, referring to foreign institutional investors reducing their positions in India. (Disclaimer: This article is based on a user-generated post on X for informational purposes. has not independently verified the claims made in the post and does not vouch for their accuracy. The views expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of Reader discretion is advised.)


Mint
a few seconds ago
- Mint
Why India may not stop buying Russian oil amid US tariff threat: Explained
In a major setback for India, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday a 25% tariff on the import of Indian goods and an additional "penalty" for buying the "vast majority of their military equipment from Russia." Trump said India is Russia's "largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!". He also cited "massive trade deficit with India" as the reason behind the high tariff rate of 25%. He added that US has 'done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World.' But a day later, the US President informed that tariff talks with India are still on, raising hope of a respite. "I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I have heard. I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens...," he said on Thursday. There has been no official indication yet if India will stop buying oil from Russia. However, Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday that India will keep purchasing oil from Russia, and there would be no immediate changes. Not giving in to Trump's pressure, these sources cited the following reasons for buying oil from Russia: 1. "These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight," they added. 2. Justifying India's oil purchases from Russia, a second source said India's imports of Russian grades had helped avoid a global surge in oil prices, which have remained subdued despite Western curbs on the Russian oil sector. 3. "Unlike Iranian and Venezuelan oil, Russian crude is not subject to direct sanctions, and India is buying it below the current price cap fixed by the European Union," the source said. 4. Meanwhile, sources told news agency ANI that India's energy decisions have been guided by national interest but have also contributed positively to global energy stability. "India's purchases have remained fully legitimate and within the framework of international norms,' they added. 5. These sources said, 'Had India not absorbed discounted Russian crude combined with OPEC production cuts of 5.86 mb/d, global oil prices could have surged well beyond the March 2022 peak of US$137/bbl, intensifying inflationary pressures worldwide.' 6. Meanwhile, Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said on August 1 shed light on India's energy sourcing requirements. "You are aware of our broad approach that we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," he said. India is the second-largest importer of Russian oil after China. According to the New York Times, Russia is currently the source of more than one-third of India's oil imports, up from less than 1 percent before the war. The NITI Aayog's April-June (q1 FY2025) report revealed that in Q1 FY25, India recorded significant y-o-y import growth with Russia (19.69%). India imported about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June in 2025, up 1 percent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources. Meanwhile, Trading Economics cited the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade as revealing that India's imports from Russia of crude oil was US$52.73 billion during 2024. In 2023, Russia was among the top trading partners of India. According to Trend Economy, Russia contributed 26% (58 billion US$) to India's imports (of "Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes). While India is among the top importers of Russia and China, the country is among the top exporters to the US. India remains a substantial exporter of refined petroleum products and other mineral fuels. "The primary destinations for these exports include the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States," Niti Aayog's report said. The USA is among the top importers of Indian goods, accounting for almost 33% of the total merchandise exports, according to NITI Aayog's report. It showed that the USA is India's top export destination in these categories: Minerals fuels & products, Natural or Cultured pearls, Electrical machinery & Equipment, Nuclear reactors, Pharmaceuticals products. NITI Aayog's April-June (q1 FY2025) report This contradicts Trump's 'little business with India' claim. The report also revealed that 'there is significant potential for Indian service exporters to expand their presence in major export markets such as the USA.' Tariffs are taxes imposed by a government (the US government in this case) on goods and services imported from other countries. They are simply an extra cost added to foreign products when they enter the country. Foreign goods get relatively more expensive, possibly driving up demand for domestic products. "Tariffs give a price advantage to locally produced goods over similar goods that are imported, and they raise revenues for governments," according to the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, some domestic industries may rely on imported materials and parts. In this case, the rise in prices of imported materials and parts would lead to face higher costs of production (by domestic producers). "If the domestic producers pass higher costs of production onto consumers, it will also push up prices of domestically produced goods," Oxford Economics explains. There's a possibility of lower export demand in the country (India) where the tariffs are imposed, since their goods have become relatively more expensive in the importing country (US).