CICU Holds Industrial Meeting on US Tariffs; Calls for PLI Scheme Extension to MSMEs and Key Export Sectors

Ludhiana, August 13, 2025: Chamber of Industrial & Commercial Undertakings (CICU) organized an important Industrial Meeting on the prevailing challenges due to USA tariff, followed by a press briefing.
The meeting was attended by CICU Steering Committee members including Upkar Singh Ahuja, President CICU; Honey Sethi, General Secretary; J.S. Bhogal, Organising Secretary; S.B. Singh, Joint Secretary; Ambrish Jain MD of KGOC, Mr. M.K. Chopra- Yerik International, Rohit Pahwa-Nova Bicycle, Deepjyot Singh- Well bond Industry, Gagandeep Singh- Welltech Group, Ashwani Goyal – Cute Cycle, Bhagwant Singh – Chetak Tool India Pvt Ltd, Suresh Gupta – Sona Cycle, Rakesh Jindal – Stelco International, Sanjay Dhiman – DAV Engineering Group along with prominent members from the industry.
During the discussions, members expressed deep concern over the issue and stressed that the Government should take immediate steps to reduce logistics costs and provide export benefits of at least 15% to improve competitiveness. The industry also highlighted the risk of unemployment if timely measures are not taken and urged the Government to extend stronger support to the manufacturing sector.
It was emphasized that the Government must try to settle the US tariff issue on top priority, as once customers are lost, it is very difficult to regain them. The members suggested launching a Mini PLI Scheme and adopting advanced technologies to help MSMEs develop import substitution capabilities.
CICU members also stressed that the current Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme is largely designed for large-scale industries, and demanded its extension to steel, engineering products, textiles, garments, machinery, hand tools, auto components, furniture, and other key export sectors, especially for small-scale industries (MSMEs). They further proposed that all stakeholders – including raw material suppliers and Tier-1 vendors – should be ready to make reasonable sacrifices to make Indian products globally competitive.
It was also recommended that exporters should be given incentives under a Cooperative Scheme to encourage collaboration, pooling of resources, and scaling up of exports.
The high import tariffs were also discussed as a major hurdle impacting the cost of production and global competitiveness.
The meeting concluded with a unanimous appeal to the Government to take urgent policy action, address the tariff issue with the US immediately, expand the PLI scheme to MSMEs, provide cooperative incentives to exporters, and ensure all stakeholders work collectively to maintain India’s export momentum and protect jobs.