India will Need Nearly USD 80 to 100 Billion in Civil Aviation-Related Products.

Amid India's growing commercial needs in the aviation industry, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister estimated that India needs USD 80-100 billion in civil aviation products, underscoring the nation's development in the aviation market.

Goyal said the India-US interim trade agreement framework would drive substantial demand for aircraft, engines, and spare parts as India's civil aviation market expands.

Planes are essential for India. We already have orders of USD 50 billion with Boeing for planes, engines, and spare parts. I suspect we will need anywhere between USD 80 and 100 billion of just civil aviation-related products,"

Goyal also highlighted India's rapidly growing demand for ICT products, driven by the development of data centres and AI and quantum computing capabilities.

He noted that India presently imports ICT and related products worth approximately USD 300 billion annually from global markets, and that over the next five years, imports are projected to reach USD 2 trillion.

We are setting up data centres. We are developing the AI and quantum computing economy significantly. All of these will require substantial quantities of ICT products, as estimated. We currently import USD 300 billion worth of these products annually from various regions worldwide. In the next five years, we estimate we will need USD 2 trillion of these products, and America has very good capabilities and capacity to support the Indian economy with high-quality products at competitive prices," he stated.

He also clarified that USD 500 billion is included in the India-US interim trade agreement, noting that India wants to purchase products worth that amount and that there is no binding purchase obligation under the framework.

Goyal added that the interim trade understanding does not require India to purchase specific quantities or values of goods from the US, noting that estimates are based on India's growing commercial needs. "We hope they will offer us very competitive prices. We intend to purchase a substantial volume of these products from our USD 2 trillion in imports.

India has agreed to disregard or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and various US agricultural and food products, including dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits and additional products.

Instead, the US will impose a reciprocal tariff of 18% on goods originating in India, including textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and rubber products, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal goods and some machinery. Subject to the successful conclusion of the Interim Agreement, the US has said it will later remove reciprocal tariffs on select items, such as generic pharmaceuticals, gems and diamonds, and aircraft parts.

The US will also remove tariffs on certain aircraft and aircraft parts from India, which were obligatory to address national security threats, the joint statement said.

India will also purchase USD 500 billion in US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next half decade.

Source: Times of India