The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has asked Indian exporters to reach out to their American trade partners to seek a share of refunded tariffs, as the United States has initiated the process of refunding reciprocal tariffs from April 20.
There is no legal right for Indian exporters to these refunds, as only US businesses are eligible to receive them. However, if Indian exporters have strong relationships with their US buyers, they may secure a share, FIEO President S C Ralhan was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
Some Indian exporters are already in talks with their American clients, while others are yet to reach out.
The reciprocal tariff regime began with a 10 percent levy on April 2 last year and was rapidly escalated. Rates for India rose to 50 percent by the end of August.
However, the US Supreme Court in February struck down the imposition of import tariffs by Trump, finding it unconstitutional.
According to a report by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), about $10–12 billion of the total refunds are linked to goods sourced from India.
However, it was American importers or customs brokers who paid the tariffs to the US government. Hence, they are eligible to file for tariff refunds, not Indian exporters.
It is estimated that the Trump administration will have to make total refunds of about $166 billion.
Most refunds for India-linked goods may come from a handful of sectors, according to the report.
The highest amount of refunds is tied to the Indian textiles and apparel sector, with about $4 billion paid in tariffs.
Exports of engineering goods also faced tariffs of about $4 billion, while shipments of chemicals and related products incurred taxes of $2 billion.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has launched a new online portal called CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system).
So far, over 56,000 importers have registered to claim refunds on about $127 billion of tariffs collected.
