Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal stated Tuesday that the Bilateral Commerce Settlement (BTA) talks with the US are targeted on the change of “proper information” and the “true image” of commerce between the 2 nations. This comes as US President Donald Trump has persistently sought to pressurise commerce companions, accusing them of “ripping the US off” on items commerce, however overlooking the benefits that America enjoys within the providers sector.
“Once we interact with the US group, all of the information are on the desk, and the negotiations are primarily based on the suitable information and the information we change with them. That’s utterly rooted within the true image which exists between the 2 nations. So, the BTA progresses on these strains,” Barthwal stated.
A number of specialists in India have additionally identified that the 26 per cent reciprocal tariffs introduced by the US on India had been primarily based solely on items commerce, whereas ignoring providers commerce — an space the place the US and different Western nations maintain appreciable benefits over growing nations.
In line with information compiled by the US Bureau of Financial Evaluation, which falls underneath the nation’s Division of Commerce, providers exports from the US to India have persistently grown over the past three years. In 2022, such exports stood at $26.53 billion, rising to $33.99 billion in 2023, and $40.26 billion in 2024.
Notably, the US recorded a marginal commerce deficit with India when it comes to providers imports from New Delhi throughout the identical interval — with imports recorded at $33.03 billion in 2022, $36.4 billion in 2023 and $40.74 billion in 2024.
India is taken into account the most important market by person base for a number of main US tech corporations — reminiscent of Meta’s Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Alphabet’s Google Search and YouTube — owing to its giant inhabitants and a number of the world’s lowest web information charges.
As such, past direct financial worth, Indian customers present a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs for American tech merchandise, whereas additionally producing huge quantities of knowledge to fine-tune their providers.
By the way, countering issues over the selective use of products commerce deficit, China, in a white paper launched final week, stated that providers and native gross sales of home enterprises’ branches within the different nation (i.e., native gross sales generated by two-way funding) also needs to be taken into consideration when discussing commerce.
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“When the three elements — commerce in items, commerce in providers, and native gross sales of home enterprises’ branches within the different nation — are thought-about collectively, it turns into clear that the financial and commerce advantages accrued by China and the US are roughly balanced,” the Chinese language white paper said.
In India, revenues from main American corporations’ operations right here have been on a gradual rise, significantly in internet advertising, which has seen substantial development attributable to growing digital adoption within the nation.
As an example, Meta India’s income from operations in FY24 grew by 9.3 per cent to Rs 3,034.8 crore, up from Rs 2,775.7 crore in FY23, whereas its internet revenue rose by 43 per cent to just about Rs 505 crore. Meta India additionally makes royalty funds to Meta USA for the commercialisation of mental property, together with infrastructure costs.
Equally, Google India noticed its revenues improve by 26 per cent to Rs 5,921.1 crore in FY24, from Rs 4,700 crore in FY23. Microsoft India’s FY24 income grew by greater than 18 per cent year-on-year to just about Rs 23,000 crore.
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The World Commerce Analysis Initiative (GTRI) stated that the US often misrepresents commerce figures. “For instance, Trump claimed that the US commerce deficit with India is $100 billion, whereas India’s official information locations it at underneath $45 billion. Equally, the White Home truth sheet inaccurately said that India imposes a 100 per cent tariff on Harley-Davidson bikes, when the precise tariff was lowered from 50 per cent to 30 per cent on 1 February 2025,” the GTRI report said.