Indian stocks soar after Trump's tariff cut

New Delhi.- The main stock markets in India opened this Tuesday with strong gains close to 3%, after the reduction of US tariffs on Indian products to 18%.

At the opening, the Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which takes into account the 30 largest capitalized companies in the Indian stock market, rose to 83,718.22 units at 10:02 local time (4:32 GMT), after a rise of 2,051.76 points, equivalent to 2.51%.

The Nifty, a benchmark index that groups the values of 50 Indian companies from the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), added 627.15 points at the same time, reaching 25,715.55 units, which represents a growth of 2.5%. The advance of these two indices takes place after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed on Monday the reduction of US tariffs on Indian products to 18%, although the leader avoided corroborating President Donald Trump's statement about an alleged commitment by New Delhi to immediately stop buying oil from Russia.

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The Indian statement leaves the fate of secondary sanctions up in the air, since until now, Indian products faced a double burden, the "reciprocal tariff" base of 25% plus an additional punitive rate of another 25%, activated by Washington as retaliation for the purchase of Russian crude oil.

By confirming only the new rate of 18%, it is not clear if this implies the automatic disappearance of the penalty tariff, which would mean a drastic reduction of the total fiscal barrier from 50%.

Modi also did not refer to Trump's statements about an agreement for India to stop buying Russian oil or a possible increase in energy imports from the United States or Venezuela. India has become one of the largest buyers of cheap Russian crude oil since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, making it one of its largest suppliers despite pressure from the West. However, last Friday, Modi spoke with the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, with whom he agreed to "deepen energy cooperation," a step that fits with Trump's plan to redirect Indian demand towards the Caribbean.