“STANDSTILL”
Moody’s recently warned that for India, the “much wider tariff gap” may “even reverse some of the gains made in recent years in attracting related investments”.
India’s gems and jewellery industry exported goods worth more than US$10 billion last year and employs hundreds of thousands of people.
“Nothing is happening now, everything is at a standstill, new orders have been put on hold,” Ajesh Mehta from D Navinchandra Exports told AFP.
“We expect up to 150,000 to 200,000 workers to be impacted.”
Gems and other expensive non-essential items are vulnerable.
“A 10 per cent tariff was absorbable – 25 per cent is not, let alone this 50 per cent,” Mehta added.
“At the end of the day, we deal in luxury products. When the cost goes up beyond a point, customers will cut back.”
Seafood exporters, who have been told by some US buyers to hold shipments, are hoping for new customers.
“We are looking to diversify our markets,” says Alex Ninan, who is a partner at the Baby Marine Group.
“The United States is totally out right now. We will have to push our products to alternative markets, such as China, Japan … Russia is another market we are really looking into.”
Ninan, however, warns that is far from simple.
“You can’t create a market all of a sudden,” he said.
Source: CNA
