India’s central bank announces relief measures for exporters hit by US tariff

India’s central bank announced relief measures on Friday for businesses impacted by the recent hike in US tariffs, including a moratorium on all term loans to be paid by exporters that are due between September 1 and December 31, 2025.

The new U.S. tariffs, including a 25% punitive levy over New Delhi’s Russian oil purchases, raised duties to as high as 50%, impacting businesses across sectors such as garments, jewellery, leather goods and chemicals.

Among other key measures, the Reserve Bank of India also permitted the country’s exporters to repatriate earnings from their shipments in 15 months instead of the existing timeline of 9 months, to provide more flexibility for businesses in negotiating future contracts with overseas buyers.

Other measures include raising the maximum credit period for export loans disbursed until March 31, 2026 to 450 days from 270 days and easing limits for shipment of goods to three years from the date of receipt of advance payment from the current time frame of one year.

“Reserve Bank has taken the following measures with a view to mitigate the impact of trade disruptions on exports arising on account of global headwinds,” the RBI said in a circular.

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These measures will come into force with immediate effect, RBI said.

The RBI had previously allowed such deferments of loan repayments and extensions in repatriation timelines for exporters, especially in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

India’s central government had approved spending 450.6 billion rupees ($5.1 billion) on support for exporters on Wednesday, including 200 billion rupees in credit guarantees on bank loans.

The country’s merchandise exports to the U.S., India’s largest market, fell nearly 12% year-on-year to $5.43 billion in September, after the 50% tariffs took effect in late August, with engineering goods shipments down about 10%.