It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be their friend is fatal, said Nilesh Shah, Managing Director at Kotak Mutual Fund. "It is always difficult to predict America," he added, as US President Donald Trump announced additional 25% tariffs on India on Wednesday.
As of today, market seems complacent to this tariff announcement as they believe that better senses will prevail, Shah told NDTV Profit.
"Right now market is guessing that both US and India have same strategic interests and eventually better senses will prevail. The tariffs will come to play 21 days from the order passed date, which is Aug. 27. Meanwhile, on Aug.25, the American team is coming to negotiate trade deal in India," Shah said. "Therefore, policy unpredictability is making market guess," he added.
Shah added, "I hope the US will recognise, that EU and they themselves have been trading with Russia. Its not just the Russian oil that funds Ukraine war, it is also the Russian gas that Europe is buying and the Russian chemicals and fertilisers that America is buying."
The Kotak Mutual Fund MD also highlighted that, India has been put to crisis several times by the world, but it only pushed us to be self sufficient.
He noted that we need to accelerate the ease of doing business in India. "We need to get rid of the unnecessary rules to help the businesses and encourage 'made in India' products," Shah said.
Shah further shared that we will be able to create resilient Indian economy by going 'vocal for local'. "Equity returns are unlikely to be like last 5 years," he added.
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