00:00The Trumpian tariff, how India should tackle it?
00:03India should never bend.
00:05You are seeing unpredictable and inconsistent behavior
00:09which is not in tune with the bipartisan perspective
00:14which was adopted by the United States over the last two and a half years.
00:19The Prime Minister has invested a lot in this relationship with the United States over the last decade.
00:25We should look at a long-term perspective and win the game with the United States in the long run.
00:32The dilemma for India, which India is facing right now,
00:35the second biggest economy, China, that is also not in great terms with India.
00:40Our interest is, instead of importing from China,
00:45we should get Chinese to do joint ventures with Indian companies on a minority stake
00:52and do manufacturing in India.
00:55The key is that how do we take India from a $4 trillion to a $35 trillion economy
01:02by the time we become 100?
01:04That's the vision of the Prime Minister.
01:06If in case Russia and US come close, do you see this 25% tariff going?
01:1125% tariff is totally arbitrary.
01:14Then you should also be imposing 25% tariff on China, on Turkey,
01:19Europe, which is a very major importer of gas from Russia.
01:22And you should also be imposing it on many of the importers in the United States.
01:28Where do you see India's positioning now, globally?
01:31Do you think it has shaken a little bit after this thing being out by US?
01:35First of all, we must have confidence in ourselves.
01:39One measure, two measures, don't shake your confidence.
01:41It's important that our vision must be of growth, growth and growth.
01:47Mr. Amitapkan, thank you for talking to us.
01:52I will come straight to the point.
01:55The Trumpian tariff, 50%, 25% additional because we are buying Russian oil.
02:01How do you look at it and how India should tackle it?
02:03First of all, I'm a believer that India should not compromise on its energy security
02:11or its strategic autonomy.
02:16We are here for a long-term game and we must win the long-term war.
02:22My belief is that we built up a relationship with the United States
02:27over two and a half decades, which was bipartisan in nature.
02:33And this attempt to put a 50% duty does not stand to logic
02:39because we import oil, but more than twice of that, China imports.
02:48Turkey imports from Russia.
02:51And if we do not import from Russia,
02:55then we are putting our citizens to great economic hardship.
03:00We will take our economy and impact it in a very big manner.
03:07And therefore, we should do what is in our national interest
03:11and that is what the government is doing right now.
03:14My belief also is that this is a huge opportunity for India
03:21India is being tested and it should galvanize us in a very big way.
03:28It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to carry out very vigorous reforms across the economy.
03:37My view is that this is an opportunity which Trump has given us
03:45to set our GST, make it far more easy and simple,
03:51make your personal taxes very simple,
03:55reduce the statutory liquidity ratio so that we allow more credit to flow into our economy,
04:02set right our cities, which can then become the centers of growth,
04:06and to my mind, make yourself a more innovative and research-oriented country
04:12and use tourism to drive growth.
04:15Tourism is tariff-proof
04:17and tourism is a massive opportunity for both growth and job creation.
04:25And we should use tourism to penetrate all global markets right now.
04:30So, some financial think tanks are saying that this may not impact the Indian economy as much.
04:35Do you agree with that?
04:37So, the Goldman Sachs study which has just been released shows that actually
04:42Trumpian tariff is impacting 68% of the consumers in the United States.
04:52It impacts 22% of the importers in the United States and it impacts only 12% of the exporters.
05:05That's as far as the United States is concerned.
05:09And therefore, it will have long-term implication for the United States in terms of inflation.
05:16It will have implication in terms of slowdown of growth.
05:20It will have implication on unemployment creation and impact the United States economy in the long term.
05:30India is also not a very large trading economy as such.
05:37And our exports, while from our perspective, are big in terms to the United States in some sectors,
05:46dextiles, leather, etc.
05:49But in many other areas, if you look at electronic goods or pharma sector or services sector,
05:57these sectors are not getting impacted.
06:00And therefore, it will have only a very, very minor marginal impact on Indian economy.
06:06Sir, another, what you said, dilemma for India, maybe, which India is facing right now.
06:11The second biggest economy, China, that is also not in great terms with India right now,
06:16although we are the big trading partners.
06:19So, do you see Indian businesses inclining towards this region, diversifying?
06:26We do about 120 billion worth of imports from China.
06:34When China had very adverse relationship with Japan,
06:38it continued to have very close economic relationship with Japan.
06:44China has a very adverse political relationship with Taiwan.
06:49Yet the biggest investors in China are Taiwan.
06:54And the Taiwanese businessmen.
06:58To my mind, our interest is, and it's in our economic interest,
07:04that instead of importing from China,
07:08we should get Chinese to do joint ventures with Indian companies on a minority stake
07:15and do manufacturing in India.
07:18And that will enable India to do both input manufacturing and component manufacturing
07:24and accelerate the process of making India
07:28and accelerate the process of manufacturing in India.
07:31And that, to my mind, is a long-term answer to economic growth.
07:37The key is that how do we take India from a 4 trillion dollar to a 35 trillion dollar economy
07:46by the time we become 100?
07:47That's the vision of the Prime Minister.
07:50And we need to really provide momentum to growth.
07:55We need to grow at 8 to 9 percent per annum, year after year, year after year, year after year.
08:01And to my mind, instead of importing, we need to do manufacturing with China in India.
08:08That will create jobs in India.
08:10Sir, but do you see this as a reality?
08:14Because the geopolitical situation is totally different.
08:18No, no, we should make this...
08:19The kind of expansionism streak China has, do you think that can go hand in hand?
08:23I think we should revisit Press Note 3, as has been recommended by Neeti Aayog and some other bodies.
08:33And I think we've imposed Press Note 3 at the time of Doklam.
08:38Since then, there's been a lot of change in geopolitics.
08:43And we should look forward to a collaborative manufacturing partnership with China in India.
08:49Sir, how do you see AI impacting by these tariffs?
08:53India's AI vision.
08:55India is also trying to position itself as an AI hub.
08:58So how do you look at it?
09:00Will it be impacted?
09:01And where do you see the future of this AI revolution or AI ecosystem, as I say?
09:07So not merely AI, I think India is attempting to technologically pole vault in a range of areas.
09:14We've had the AI mission, which has launched, which has moved forward.
09:19We are creating our own frontier models.
09:22And I'll come to that.
09:24But we have also launched the quantum computing mission.
09:27We've launched the semiconductor mission.
09:30We've launched the green hydrogen mission.
09:32And in all these areas, we are trying to technologically move forward very vigorously.
09:37But on AI mission, and that to my mind is key, we've built up an open source model for digital public infrastructure already.
09:45We should now build up an open source AI model.
09:48And I think four companies have already been identified for creating sovereign frontier models.
09:55And these sovereign frontier models are really the key.
09:59India is the only country which is also providing computing power to our research students and to our startups at much lower cost, almost 45% lower than any other part of the world.
10:12And AI will be a very, very key driver.
10:16It will be a major disruptionist.
10:18And it will be a very key driver of India's growth story in the years to come.
10:22Sir, this will happen with or without US support or Trumpian tariff, as I say?
10:26No, no, this will happen.
10:28We should be.
10:29India will work in its national interest in partnership with all countries.
10:34We are working in partnership with the United States.
10:37We are working in partnership with Europe, with China.
10:40You will have hiccups once in a while.
10:43You will have challenges.
10:45But we will continue to work with our economic autonomy, with our strategic interests, and in the interest of economic growth in the long run.
10:56That is what we must continue to do.
10:58Do you see if in case Russia and US come close, do you see this 25% tariff going?
11:05And in case it goes, do you think 25% tariff is still sustainable for India?
11:10I think first of all, 25% tariff is totally arbitrary.
11:15It is not comprehensible to me because then you should also be imposing 25% tariff on China, on Turkey, but you should also be imposing it on Europe, which is a very major importer of gas from Russia.
11:30And you should also be imposing it on many of the importers in the United States because the United States is importing a lot of critical minerals from Russia.
11:41All critical minerals are still being imported from China.
11:43So it doesn't stand to any logic.
11:47Yes, of course, it's not logical.
11:49But the reality is that he has imposed.
11:51That's why I'm saying let's take a long-term perspective.
11:55You don't, this, we should treat, India should never bend.
11:58We should look at a long-term perspective.
12:02You are seeing unpredictable and inconsistent behavior which is not in tune with the bipartisan perspective which was adopted by the United States over the last two and a half years.
12:16The Prime Minister has invested a lot in his, in this relationship with the United States over the last decade.
12:24We should look at a long-term perspective and win the game with the United States in the long run.
12:30Why India is singled out, do you think, sir?
12:32Well, Brazil was singled out as well with 50% tariff.
12:38We, Brazil has not succumbed.
12:40China did not succumb.
12:41India need not succumb.
12:43I think we should hold on.
12:44We should also do retaliatory tariff?
12:47Not right now because we still have 20 days to negotiate.
12:52We should, patience is a virtue in negotiation.
12:55We should do a lot of backroom negotiation.
12:58But over a long period of time, India has also got, we buy many other, we buy Boeing planes, we, global digital companies of United States operate in India.
13:10We give them the freedom to use our data.
13:12All these are huge advantages for India.
13:14Sir, coming to my last question, you said in a seminar recently that 20,000 crores should be pumped into the tourism sector.
13:26I'm a great believer in travel and tourism and I think this is a huge opportunity for India.
13:31We've not done brand marketing of incredible India for the last eight years, nine years.
13:38The Prime Minister has laid a lot of emphasis on tourism.
13:41It's a sector which will create jobs in a very big way.
13:44Not merely government of India, but every state should become a driver of travel and tourism.
13:49Today only Rajasthan, Kerala and Kashmir do that.
13:52Every state of India should drive tourism.
13:55And we should look at a very integrated marketing campaign of incredible India, penetrating global economies across the world.
14:02That's critical for India because that will drive growth.
14:07That will create jobs.
14:08India is buying 1,800 planes.
14:11These 1,800 planes should not be used to ferry Indians to the rest of the world.
14:16They should be used to bring tourists from across the world to India.
14:20Sir, you led Nithya, you led G20.
14:24Where do you see India's positioning now globally?
14:29Do you think it has shaken a little bit after this singling out by US?
14:33First of all, we must have confidence in ourselves.
14:37One measure, two measures, don't shake your confidence.
14:40Our vision must be very clear.
14:42That we are a $4 trillion economy.
14:45We are the fastest growing economy.
14:47We are aiming to be a $35 trillion plus economy by 2047.
14:52And by the time we become a hundred.
14:56And it's important that we, our vision must be of growth, growth and growth.
15:03Hard economic power comes from growth.
15:06And that requires a lot of courage, guts and determination.
15:10One incident like this does not impact, should never impact us.
15:15Thank you so much for graciously all the...
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