'Dark clouds of uncertainty lifted': DFS secretary on India-US trade deal

Secretary of the Department of Financial Services M Nagaraju urged industry leaders to be cheerful about the India-US trade deal

Secretary of the Department of Financial Services M Nagaraju has said that “dark clouds” from the world economy have been lifted after India and the United States finalised a trade deal on Monday. 

 

Speaking at Ficci’s conference on Union Budget 2026–27 on Tuesday, Nagaraju said, “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."

 

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.

'Great deal of uncertainty dropped'

At the same event, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs Anuradha Thakur said a “great deal of uncertainty has been dropped this morning” after the trade deal was announced.

 

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.

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.