Agricultural protectionism pushes up India's import tariff
19 february 2025 - The Hindu
Tariffs levied on imports into India are five times higher than USA.
The average duty levied by India was 17% in 2023, while that of USA was 3.3%
India's tariffs is among the highest in the BRICS countries.
- Brazil - 11%
- South Africa and China - more than 7%
- Russia - 6%
- European Union - 5%
But the number of products subject to tariffs in India and USA remains comparable.
India's highest average was mostly due to high tariffs on agricultural products to protect the domestic producers.
Average tariffs by India on non - agricultural goods was less than 15% between 2018 - 2023. But the duty on agricultural goods was more than 38% in the same period.
High agricultural tariffs is to protect food security and livelihoods. since investment is low in agricultural sector - Just 6% of the total investment in the country. This makes the sector remains inefficient by global standards.
The USA has high subsidies on agricultural products.
Trump said that he would impose reciprocal tariffs on countries which he believes have treated USA unfairly.
India recently reduced tariffs on bourbon, whiskey from 150% to 100%
India is increasingly exporting to USA widening its trade surplus. The exports have crossed $53 billion in 2024 - 2025.
Reciprocal tariffs could pressure India to reduce agricultural tariffs.
