Investor Akshat Shrivastava has highlighted the potential risks of the US’s high tariffs on India in a recent tweet, arguing that many people underestimate their impact on the country’s economy.
India’s Growth Challenges
“Our per capita GDP is ranked 120+, we are a poor nation. And, are trying to move to a middle income country,” he wrote, adding that India needs strong partnerships with major global trading blocs to sustain its growth. “Alienating big economies is the fastest way to kill our growth prospects: we are not aligned with China & US doesn’t want us. Russia is a closed economy (even if they want us, it doesn’t matter much).”
He also criticized the notion that India can quickly build its own capacity. “It is easy to say: ‘we should build our own capacity’. What have we been waiting for decades then? Harry Potter 10 release? If building our capacity was easy, don’t you think we would have done it.”
Manufacturing, IT Sector, and AI Impact
Shrivastava pointed out that India’s manufacturing base remains weak, while the IT industry—one of the top-performing service sectors—is facing headwinds and job losses. He also said, “Schemes like Make in India have failed spectacularly to the point: where we have sitting CM’s inaugurating Tesla showrooms.”
He concluded by emphasizing the importance of US collaboration: “Wrap all this up in the fact: that AI is going to cut labour cost massively. Nations like the US are now industrializing by building giga-factories. ‘Cheap-labour’ is not an advantage anymore. We need US’s tech stack to build our next tech revolution (post IT), more than they need India’s cheap labour.”