Gems And Jewellery Hardest Hit By Tariffs With Drop Of 70 pc
Barring a few, most export categories saw a decline in shipments to the US this year
Chennai: Among the US-bound export categories, gems and jewellery is the hardest hit with a 70 per cent drop in shipments since September and 34 per cent decline between April and August. The sector’s contribution to merchandise exports has fallen from 15 per cent in FY13 to 7 per cent in FY25.
Barring a few, most export categories saw a decline in shipments to the US this year. Following the imposition of the 50 per cent US reciprocal tariffs, India’s exports to the US declined across major categories. However, some had recorded growth in the previous months due to frontloading of goods.
Gems and jewellery saw decline in exports during both the periods. Since September, after the imposition of a 50 per cent tariff, exports fell 69.7 per cent, while between April and August the decline was 33.9 per cent, finds CareEdge. The share of gems and jewellery shipments in the total exports to the US stood at 11.5 per cent. This was 18.5 per cent in 2012.
Similarly, the share of gems and jewellery in the total merchandise exports of India has come down to 7 per cent against 15 per cent in FY12 and FY13.
Textiles, excluding readymade garments, is another category that has seen decline in exports during both the periods – prior and post imposition of the US tariffs. Between April and August, the decline was 1.2 per cent and this widened to 31.1 per cent after September.
While agricultural and allied products saw a drop of 32.4 per cent since September, it had grown 8.2 per cent prior to September. Engineering goods, chemicals, and readymade garments benefitted from frontloading, but declined after tariffs.
In the case of products exempted from tariffs such as petroleum and crude products, the exports had declined 19.7 per cent between April and August but grew 46.7 per cent from September. Electronic goods, another exempted category, saw growth during both periods – 132 per cent prior to September and 122 per cent after September.
Engineering goods is the top category in the US exports with a share of 20.5 per cent, followed by electronics goods at 17.5 per cent and chemicals and related products 17.4 per cent.