Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said progress is being made to rationalise tariffs, with efforts underway to minismise such duties.
Delivering CD Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised by organised by the National Council of Applied Economic Research on Thursday, August 6, Sitharaman assured, "by Budget 2027-28, barring a few items, tariffs will come down to single digit."
The Finance Minister remarks come days after Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal in an exclusive interaction with NDTV Profit said that India and the US have finalised the broad framework for a proposed bilateral trade agreement, with discussions now focused on working out a new tariff structure before the pact can be implemented,
The outline for the deal has already been agreed upon, but both sides are now working on a tariff regime that ensures Indian exports remain competitive in the US market.
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Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal last week expressed confidence that the first phase of the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) will be operationalised after the Trump administration provides Indian exports with a competitive tariff edge over neighbouring countries and ASEAN nations.
Speaking to reporters, Goyal said India has already concluded negotiations on the initial tranche of the BTA and is now awaiting the necessary steps from the US side.
"We have categorically expressed confidence that what we finalised with the US as the first tranche of the BTA will come into operation as soon as the US is able to ensure that India gets a comparative advantage over countries in our neighbourhood and the ASEAN region," he said.
Goyal added, "As long as we have a comparative advantage in terms of comparable duties, we will continue to leverage the opportunities available in the US market."
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