Tea, leather, jewellery eye relief after tariff talks
Times of India | 9 February 2026
Kolkata: The formal announcement of the US trade deal came as a major relief for exporters in Bengal. Sectors like leather, engineering, garments, marine products (mainly shrimp), tea, and jewellery — which have significant export ties to the US market — are confident that negotiations with American buyers will resume shortly after being at a virtual standstill for months.
For the tea and gems & jewellery sectors, the deal is a "double bonanza" as tariffs dropped to 0% while for others, the rate was slashed to 18% from a staggering 50%. The only unresolved factor remains Section 232 for engineering sector, which imposes higher tariffs on steel and aluminium materials that constitute a large portion of engineering exports. But exporters believe this, too, will be resolved soon.
Before US president Donald Trump imposed penal and reciprocal tariffs of 50% on Indian products, exports from Bengal to US were valued between Rs 17,500 crore and Rs 18,000 crore, including engineering exports worth Rs 8,000 crore, leather at Rs 1,200 crore, shrimp & seafood at Rs 6,000 crore, gems & jewellery at Rs 2,000 crore, and garments at Rs 450 crore-Rs 500 crore.
Jewellers in Kolkata, who export items to the US, were relieved by the announcement of zero-duty access for diamonds and coloured gemstones under the Interim Agreement framework. The duty on finished jewellery was also reduced from 50% to 18%. "This is a relief for jewellery exporters in Kolkata and Bengal," said Pankaj Parekh, chairman (East) of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
The MD of Luxmi Group, Rudra Chatterjee, pointed out that the US is a market where India exports its highest-value teas, including Darjeeling. Zero duty on both bulk and value-added tea presents an opportunity for India to scale branded exports rather than just selling loose leaf. Incidentally, Bengal accounts for a major chunk of the approximately Rs 600 crore in tea exports from India to the US. The president of CISTA, Bijay Gopal Chakraborty, believes the India–US interim trade deal will definitely boost the Indian tea export market, particularly for premium brands.
Sanjay Budhia, MD of Patton, one of the leading engineering exporters, said: "For Bengal, with its strong engineering base, this may create incremental opportunities in the near future. Effective implementation will be key to translating this potential into sustained growth," he added.
Rajarshee Banerjee, a board member of the national managing committee of the Seafood Exporters' Association of India, said, "It will bring buyers and sellers back to the table."
Abid Ali Ostaghar, who runs a garment factory in Metiabruz, said the deal reduced uncertainty. "For the last few months, exporters were hesitant and kept delaying orders. Now, at least the rules are clear. We are hopeful that business will improve steadily in the coming months," said Abid.
At Bantala Leather Complex, where manufacturers of gloves and accessories cater largely to overseas markets, a manufacturer said, "If this trend goes on, I may hire more people to meet deadlines."