While india is chasing the august 1 deadline, the donald trump government is forcing American companies and American investments in India's dairy and agriculture sectors to sign a trade agreement with the United States. In this situation, it has been studied to what extent india will face losses if india accepts the US request and allows American investments in the dairy and agriculture sectors. With the full trade agreement between india and the US not being able to be signed, the two countries are actively trying to finalize an interim agreement to avoid the august 1 deadline. In this situation, the dairy and agricultural sectors are major issues.
While the indian government has been strongly opposing opening the dairy and agricultural sectors to the US, let's see how india will be affected if it opens its doors to the US. India's dairy sector contributes about 2.5-3% to the country's Gross Value Added (GVA), which is worth about 7.5 - 9 lakh crore rupees. This sector alone directly provides employment to about 8 crore people and provides them with a decent income.
The dairy sector in particular acts as the backbone of the rural economy, so it is important for india to be self-sufficient in this sector without allowing any foreign imports. In such a situation, allowing US milk imports into india will greatly affect this sector. In this context, a recent study published by the State bank of india (SBI) has warned that if the indian dairy sector is allowed to import US products, the people in this sector may face a loss of Rs. 1.03 lakh crore per year.

The study states that the US dairy sector will import its products into india at very cheap prices as it receives large subsidies. The sbi report also points out that if this is done, the income of small dairy farmers in india may be affected. The report states that if the indian dairy sector is opened to the US, the price of milk in india may fall by at least 15%, causing a loss of about Rs. 1.03 lakh crore per year to the people who depend on this sector. Furthermore, the sbi report estimates that if india accedes to the US request and allows milk imports, about 25 million tonnes of milk and milk products will be imported into the US annually. This will affect the production of small farmers and put their livelihoods at risk.
For more interesting updates wa click and follow Indiaherald WhatsApp channel

Find out more:

Sowmiya Sriram

15/07/2025 09:33 AM