US tariffs on India: 20 years of rates, what stocks did, and what companies said

Twenty years of US tariffs on Indian goods

For two decades the normal US duty hardly moved: about 9% on textiles and clothing, about 4% averaged across all goods. What changed is a second layer charged on top, first on steel in 2018, then on most Indian goods in 2025.

Normal duty is the World Bank WITS simple average, which stops at 2023 and leaves these top-ups out. Top-ups come from US orders. They’re on one scale to show size, and aren’t added together here. Steel means primary steel; the rules for products made from it have changed several times. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties aren’t shown.

The top-up on most Indian goods, up close

Excludes goods under steel, aluminium and auto tariffs, and exempt lists. The 18% question: a joint statement of 6 February 2026 says the US “will apply” 18%, and some trade notes describe India’s rate as 18% before the court ruling. Another says 25% until an interim deal took effect. We found no notice putting 18% into force, so the chart shows 25% for those days. Treat that stretch as unsettled.

Normal duty by product group, %

The first columns are the normal MFN rate, charged to most countries. The last two are what India actually paid at the lowest rate available to it, before and after it lost its GSP preference in June 2019. The jump fits that change, though WITS doesn’t state a reason, and its India series is uneven in earlier years because it falls back to MFN where preference data is missing. So we show only these two years. Textiles barely move. These groups don’t map neatly onto NSE sectors.

The significant changes

1. 8 Mar 2018Trump, first termSection 232: 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium, on top of normal duty. India isn’t exempted. Congressional Research Service
2. 5 Jun 2019Trump, first termIndia loses its GSP duty-free preference. Its goods fall back to the normal MFN rate. Proclamation 9902
3. 10 Feb 2025Trump, second termAluminium goes to 25% and country exemptions end, from March. Congressional Research Service
4. 26 Mar 2025Trump, second term25% on imported cars from 3 April, and on parts by 3 May. Proclamation 10908
5. 5 Apr 2025Trump, second termA 10% baseline on nearly all countries. Higher country rates are suspended a week later. Federal Register
6. 4 Jun 2025Trump, second termSteel and aluminium go to 50%. Proclamation 10947
7. 7 Aug 2025Trump, second termIndia’s rate goes to 25%. Federal Register
8. 27 Aug 2025Trump, second termA further 25%, tied to Russian oil purchases, takes it to 50%. Federal Register
9. 7 Feb 2026Trump, second termThe further 25% is removed. A joint statement of 6 February says the US will apply 18%. We found no notice putting 18% into force, and sources differ, so the chart stays at 25% for these days. E.O. 14384, Joint statement
10. 24 Feb 2026After a court rulingThe US Supreme Court strikes down the IEEPA tariffs on 20 February. A flat 10% under Section 122 replaces them, for 150 days. Steel, aluminium and autos stay outside it. Global Trade Alert
11. 2 Apr 2026Trump, second term100% on patented drugs, in force from 29 September. Generics and biosimilars are excluded. EY
12. 24 Jul 2026Trump, second termA Section 301 action keeps India at a flat 10%, on top of normal duty. Holland & Knight

Rates vary by product and have moved often. This is our reading of the sources linked, up to July 2026. Check a current official source before relying on any rate.

What stocks did around each change

When India’s rate went to 50%, the five largest apparel exporters’ median move was −24.4% over 20 sessions, and home textiles’ was −17.4%. The Nifty 50 moved −1.7%. When a lower rate was announced in February 2026, seafood’s five largest moved +16.5%, but textile groups didn’t bounce the same way.

Bars are the median of each group’s five largest companies by today’s market cap. 30 Jul 2025 to 29 Aug 2025, and 2 Feb 2026 to 2 Mar 2026.

Press at the time tied the February jump to the deal: Business Today reported Avanti Feeds, Apex Frozen Foods and Gokaldas Exports jumping up to 20% on 3 February.

Every window, by the same rule

Rule: the last Indian close before the US order was signed, to the close 20 sessions later. The February 2026 row starts from the close before the announcement. Groups are every company with a price on that FinBizNet industry group, not a chosen list. Index moves are price only; company moves are adjusted for dividends and splits.

• These are moves around a date, not effects of a tariff. Other news falls inside every window, and nothing here isolates the tariff from it.
• Broad indices often rose after their event, including Nifty Pharma around a 100% drug tariff that excluded generics. The sharper falls are in export-focused groups.
• Twenty sessions hide the path. In April 2025, for one, the market fell first and then recovered inside the window.
• Some orders were announced days before they were signed, so part of a reaction can sit before a window opens.
• Only companies listed today are counted, and “largest” uses today’s market cap, which leans towards those that did well since. Many smaller group members are micro-caps, and we haven’t measured how much each sells to the US, so a whole-group median can understate what exporters saw.

Companies mentioning US tariffs, by season: 168 at the peak, 66 now

The same 631 companies, across four results seasons. This counts mentions. Fewer mentions doesn’t mean the problem has gone. The Oct–Dec 2026 season has started and isn’t counted yet.

Each company has a transcript in all four seasons, so a company with no transcript yet can’t look like it stopped talking. The blue count is the headline. The amber count is stricter and picks who is named in the table below. Mentions fell as the rate fell; the count doesn’t show why.

What others said

Speakers are named as they appear in each transcript. Filed figures are context; a move isn’t attributed to tariffs unless the quote says so.

Every company named: 157

Each number is how many times US tariff wording came up in that company’s calls that season. Tap it to open the transcript.

A dash under filed means no comparable filing is on file for that layout, as with banks.

How this is counted, and what it can’t tell you

• It’s a keyword count of concall transcripts. It measures how often the subject came up, not how exposed a company is or what tariffs cost it.
• The season count looks for a US word (US, U.S., USA, America, American, reciprocal, Trump) within 200 characters of “tariff”. In a sample, about 85–90% of the matches caught only by this wider rule were truly about US tariffs. Good enough for a trend, not for judging one company.
• A company is named in the table only if the US word and “tariff” share a sentence in at least one season, so a power tariff near an unrelated “US” can’t put it on this list. The numbers in its row still use the wider count.
• Seasons group calls by when they were held. Companies that didn’t have a transcript in all four seasons aren’t counted.
• Fewer mentions doesn’t mean a problem is over, and many mentions doesn’t mean a company was hurt: some are companies saying they aren’t exposed.
• Filed figures are revenue and profit after tax from exchange filings. They’re shown beside the count, and a move isn’t attributed to tariffs.
• Nothing here is a recommendation on any stock.

Cite this data

Free to quote in articles, reports and posts. Please credit FinBizNet with a link to this page.

Citation

Link

Interactive views and related data

• Results Live — the current results season as filings land
• Quarterly results season — revenue and profit growth by company and industry
• India economy — RBI rates, CPI, WPI and IIP
• All FinBizNet datasets