Exclusive | No concessions on e-commerce inventory in India-US interim trade deal, says Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has clarified that inventory-related issues for e-commerce companies were not part of the India-US trade negotiations.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Goyal said that while there has been discussion around trade concessions in the deal, inventory for e-commerce companies was not included in the talks, signalling that India’s existing regulatory framework for the sector remains unchanged.

He confirmed that the tariff reset would significantly improve US market access for Indian goods, with

about 50% of India’s exports to the country attracting zero duty under the new framework.

From the other half, Goyal said, another 10-15% of exports, including steel and aluminium, will remain under US Section 232 sectoral tariffs, facing up to 50%, and approximately 35% of Indian exports to the US will be subject to tariffs of around 18%.

While the US had earlier said that it would monitor India's future crude oil imports from Russia, Goyal has clarified that the issue is not part of the trade deal and is instead being handled by the Ministry of External Affairs under S Jaishankar.

The comments came after India and the US unveiled a framework for an

interim trade agreement on Saturday

, February 7, aimed at reducing trade barriers, lowering tariffs and opening market access on both sides.

Goyal said the US decision to cut tariffs on Indian exports could take effect as early as this week, when President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order implementing the recent agreement with New Delhi.

The interim arrangement is positioned as a first step, with a broader India-US trade pact expected to take shape over multiple phases.

The government has said the focus of the current framework is to provide immediate relief to exporters through tariff reductions, while protecting sectors where policy space is critical.

The trade agreement is also part of a wider push to scale up India-US bilateral trade to $500 billion over the next five to six years, with the government expecting a sharp jump in exports in certain quarters as tariff cuts begin to take effect.