Indian exporters ‘swimming against the tide and succeeding’ amidst global slowdown, says Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday praised the resilience of Indian exporters, saying they had outperformed global trends despite multiple challenges such as geopolitical conflicts and sluggish international trade.

Speaking at the Exim Bank Trade Conclave 2025 in New Delhi, she said exporters in India were "literally swimming against the tides and succeeding in it."

“In the last few years, global trade and growth have suffered; global growth has not seen an uptick, according to WTO, IMF and World Bank's annual estimates,” Sitharaman said.


“It doesn’t seem the world is in the mood to go along with exports—even after this, Indian exporters have shown resilience and grown despite the setbacks in global exports," she added.

The FM credited Indian exporters with three distinct achievements: “One, they are growing and growing significantly. Two, they’re not just growing as earlier but today they're finding tech-infused high-tech products that are being exported. And three, they're finding newer markets in a world where countries’ consumptions have come down—we can take Europe for instance.”

Sitharaman noted that despite recession-like conditions in Europe, “our exporters have creatively rerouted and found newer markets.” India, she said, is “not just bulk exporting commodities but well-engineered, high-standard products.”

India’s total exports, she said, reached an all-time high of $825 billion, registering 6.3% growth, compared to the global export growth of just 4%.

“You have the support of the Indian government,” she assured the business community, adding that exporters had adapted each year despite successive global shocks—first Covid-19, then the Ukraine war, and most recently the conflict in Gaza.

Sitharaman listed five key steps taken by the government to help exporters:

• Upgradation of transport and logistics infrastructure
• Targeted support to MSMEs
• Technological assistance extended to research institutions including IITs and IIMs
• International Trade Finance Services platform at GIFT City
• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes

She added that the World Investment Report had placed India in an improved position despite global fluctuations.

'India not the tariff king,' says FM

Addressing global criticism on India’s tariff regime, Sitharaman said, “For those who may believe the commentary made in the US—that India may be the tariff king—no. I want two things to be remembered.”

“Given our system of things, we seek parliamentary approval to set tariff rates. But our effective rates of tariff are far lower,” she said. “Our procedures have given us a not-so-desirable picture of what our tariff rates were. But it should be noted that 7 tariff rates were removed in this year’s budget.”

She added: “We have reduced tariffs to just 8 slabs, including the zero-tariff slab.”

On trade deals: Talks with UK, EU, US nearing endgame

Speaking about India’s ongoing trade negotiations, Sitharaman said, “Negotiations with the EU, UK and US are intensely going on and should come to a conclusion soon.”

She also highlighted India’s growing stature in global manufacturing, noting that “Apple’s iPhone manufacturers in India have crossed 20% domestic value addition.”