Minister Priyank Kharge slams Centre over denial of permission for US visit
Bengaluru, Jun 19 (PTI): Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday criticised the Centre for denying him permission to travel to the US to interact with multinational companies to attract investments to the state.
According to sources, Kharge was slated to lead a delegation to Boston for Bio 2025 and San Francisco for Design Automation Conference.
However, due to denial of permission, he was forced to cut short his ongoing trip and returned from Paris to Bengaluru on Wednesday night.
Kharge vowed to raise the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and seek its response for denying him permission.
“It seems that somewhere Centre is trying to curtail the fame of Karnataka,” the Minister, who holds Information Technology and Biotechnology portfolio, told reporters here.
He acknowledged the union government's authority to decline permission but stressed the need for a justification for the decision.
“Rejecting my official tour is improper,” Kharge added.
The minister said he would take it up with the Centre.
“We will not leave it just like that. I am going to write to the MEA seeking a valid explanation on why there was a denial of our delegation and a support from the Government of India,” Kharge said.
He also requested the Chief Minister to write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kharge also said that he was visiting the US not to discuss politics but to attract investments.
“People in the USA have no time to listen to our politics. We are going there to invite them to invest in Karnataka. The investment that comes to Karnataka will not only benefit the state but also the Centre,” the Minister insisted.
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India's exports to get boost with US cutting tariff: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi (PTI): US President Donald Trump's decision to slash tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent augurs well for the country as it will boost exports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday.
"So, actually our exports will pick up now, that is my expectation... along with having found new markets where they will continue to operate," she said in an interview to PTI Videos.
"It is a good augury for them (exporters)," Sitharaman said.
Trump's steep 50 per cent tariffs last year dented Indian exports by raising landed costs, squeezing exporter margins, and eroding competitiveness in the American market. Sectors such as steel, aluminium, textiles, engineering goods and some agricultural products were hit as higher duties led US buyers to shift orders to alternative suppliers.
On Monday, Trump agreed to slash US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent in exchange for India lowering trade barriers as well as stopping its purchases of Russian oil and instead buying oil from the US and potentially Venezuela.
On implementation, the deal would bring tariffs on India in line with most other Asian countries of around 15-19 per cent.
Sitharaman said while the details of the agreement will be announced soon, the cut in tariffs is a "good auguring" for exporters.
Taken together with the new markets exporters had tapped after becoming uncompetitive in the US, the "exports will pick up now," she said.
Earlier punitive US tariffs caused India's bilateral trade surplus with the US to shrink by USD 2.5 billion each month on average in September-December 2025 (versus the monthly average in January-August 2025), according to HSBC Global Investment Research.
There have also been USD 14 billion of equity outflows by foreign investors since July 2025 amid weak sentiment.
The new 18 per cent levy undercuts tariffs on key regional competitors such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, both facing duties of 20 per cent, restoring India's price advantage in the US market. The move offers significant relief to a broad range of labour-intensive exports, including apparel, footwear and jewellery makers, which had been hit by punitive 50 per cent tariffs imposed in August, sharply denting competitiveness and order flows.
Earlier in the day, Sitharaman had in a post on X called the tariff reduction announcement "Good news for #MadeInIndia products. They will now face reduced tariff of 18%."
Trump's announcement via a social media post late Monday night is part of a general agreement under which India has apparently agreed to stop buying Russian oil, reduce "their tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the United States to zero", and India buying an incremental USD 500 billion of "US energy, technology, agricultural, coal, and many other products" over the next five years.
The commitment to stop buying Russian oil nullifies the additional 25 per cent punitive tariff previously levied, and thereby reduces the effective applied tariff on Indian exports to the US to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.
