Textiles, leather & kitchen items exports to US down

New Delhi: India's exports of labour-intensive goods such as textiles, leather, gems and jewellery, and marine products shrank in August, the month when Washington slapped tariffs on New Delhi.

The country's outbound shipments to the United States of leather goods fell 11.9% on-year in August, while those of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones nosedived 54.2% and handmade carpets declined 13.85%, showed disaggregated data released by the commerce and industry ministry.

The US imposed an across-the-board 25% tariff on all Indian-origin goods, effective August 7. These were doubled from August 25.


Growth in India's exports to the US slowed to a nine-month low of 7.15% in August. Shipments rose 18.06% in the first five months of this fiscal year.

As per the data, exports of marine products to the US fell 32.99%. Among others, tyres declined by 35%, gold and other precious metal jewellery by 18.6%, cotton readymade garments by 13.2% and drug formulations by 7.01%.

Kitchen staples like tea, spices and basmati rice also witnessed a decline in exports by 27.43%, 9.79% and 2.33%, respectively.