Nadir Godrej, chairperson of Godrej Industries Group, doesn’t see any significant impact on the company’s business due to the 50% tariffs by the US on India.
In conversation with NDTV Profit, he stated that Godrej Group companies have very few direct exports to the US. “The percentage is small, we could easily replace it with sales to domestic markets,” Godrej said.
He noted that there may be some “second-hand effects” as some of the Group’s customers are exporters to the US. He added that they may also be able to overcome the tariff headwind by exporting to other countries.
The US was hoping that India would relent on the agricultural front, and since the latter did not do so, it was “not very clear if there is any further concession” that India could give to the country, according to Godrej.
He said it was important to protect domestic industries such as agriculture. “I doubt we can make enough concessions to persuade Americans to give us duties below 25%. I think we are determined not to yield too much and live with it if we have to,” Godrej said.
He added that if some peace is achieved between Russia and Ukraine, things will be much easier for India.
Godrej noted a potential economic silver lining for India with regards to the tariffs, saying that it might encourage trade-related cooperation with India and other regions, such as Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. “One good thing that will come out of all of this is that all these countries that have been badly hit are likely to cooperate with each other,” he said.
He did see the opportunity for partnering up with China to be narrowing due to the ongoing trade negotiation between it and the US, which he said would make it “difficult for all these other countries” as China is a big competitor for most of them.
The Godrej Group chairperson pointed out that India’s chemical industry has opportunities to substitute China or work with China regarding the supply chain to other countries.
“Trying to replace China is very difficult because we ourselves get quite a few raw materials from China. If we don’t get a good deal with the US, we can’t export to the US. But many other countries are trying to diversify from China, we do have a role to play there,” he said.
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