'Great deal of uncertainty dropped': DEA secretary on India-US trade deal

Anuradha Thakur said the Indian economy has remained 'resilient' amid growing geopolitical uncertainty, as the India-US trade deal brought clarity after months of negotiations

Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Anuradha Thakur on Tuesday said that a “great deal of uncertainty has been dropped this morning”, pointing at the India–US trade deal announced last night.

 

Speaking at Ficci’s conference on Union Budget 2026–27, Thakur said the Indian economy has remained “resilient” amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.

 

“The Indian economy continues to demonstrate strong macroeconomic resilience, despite a global environment which has uncertainty, a great deal of the uncertainty which has dropped this morning,” she said.

 

Describing India’s economic position, Thakur said, “We all work in the global systems; we are interconnected. In that, India stands out as a macro-economically strong country in the world.”

 

 

She added that calibrated and credible fiscal management and a stable financial system have enabled India to maintain and sustain growth.

 

“Going forward, we would like to continue with consistency and commitment on the path that was undertaken. We recognise that this stability and credibility are vital. This enables long-term investment decisions and provides a strong foundation to strengthen our growth trajectory,” she said.

'Dark clouds from world economy lifted'

Speaking at the same event, Secretary of the Department of Financial Services M Nagaraju said that “dark clouds” from the world economy have been lifted.

 

“Today, one of the dark clouds of uncertainty from the world economy has been lifted, as both our Prime Minister and (Donald) Trump talked about the trade deal,” he said.

 

Urging industry leaders to be “cheerful” about the deal, Nagaraju said, “Ever since 50 per cent tariffs were raised, both finance and commerce have been working with our industry to mitigate this adverse impact of the tariffs.”

 

“We came up with one credit guarantee scheme for exporters, and we also approved over 4,000 loan applications for that. We disbursed over ₹1,500 crore for those industries. With 18 per cent tariffs, our industry can feel a sigh of relief about certainty now,” he added.

What remains unclear in the India–US trade deal?

After nearly a year of prolonged negotiations and multiple rounds of talks, India and the US on Monday finalised a long-awaited trade deal that lowers tariffs on Indian imports from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.

 

Even as both sides have hailed the agreement, details on several key issues, including agriculture, India’s purchase of Russian oil and the services sector amid US President Donald Trump’s tightening immigration policies, remain unclear.

 

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not highlight details beyond the tariff reduction, US President Donald Trump said India has agreed to cut its tariffs to zero and significantly increase purchases of American products.