Beyond the tariff tears: The 99 per cent opportunity in India's MSME engine

The number of exporting MSMEs, despite a commendable trebling in the last four years, was a meagre 173,350 in May last year

The recent spectre of 50 per cent “Trump tariffs” targeting key Indian export sectors — particularly textile, sea food, and gems and jewellery — has generated understandable anxiety across several geographical clusters. The anticipation of a financial squeeze on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Surat, where 80 per cent of diamond-export units are concentrated, and in Tiruppur, where garment exporters face the potential of cumulative duties soaring over 61 per cent, is a genuine crisis. These tariffs, which are seen to affect sectors that account for a significant 25 per cent of India’s exports to the United States,