From CNBC, August 18:
- Markets rallied following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of tax cuts set to boost domestic consumption.
- India’s economy is battling with the challenge of prospectively steep U.S. tariffs exacerbated by its Russian crude purchases.
- India’s autos industry could also emerge as one of the beneficiaries of the new tax policies.
Indian markets rallied on Monday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recently revealed tax cuts extended a gift to a domestic economy that still faces the teeth of U.S. tariffs.
The Nifty 50 index advanced 1%, with the BSE Sensex adding 0.84%. In currencies, the U.S. dollar surrendered 0.18% against the rupee.
In an extensive Independence Day speech on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a concerted push for self-reliance and proposed a spate of financial reforms. New Delhi now plans a two-rate structure of 5% and 18% under wide-spanning changes to the goods and services tax (GST) regime, and plans to abolish the previous 12% and 28% levies imposed on some items, Reuters cited a government official as saying on Friday. The news was also reported by local media....
....MUCH MORE
Yesterday President Trump's senior adviser for trade, Peter Navarro, wrote very bluntly:
India’s purchase of Russian oil has to stop, says US trade adviser
The US official says India’s import was giving Moscow ‘the dollars it needs’ as he accused New Delhi of cozying up to China and Russia.
Related, August 17 - "Can India Survive the Trade War?"
