Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the Semicon India 2025 event in Delhi, made a pointed yet indirect remark aimed at US President Donald Trump, linking it to the American administration’s recent tariff measures. Modi underscored India’s strong economic performance, highlighting a 7.8% GDP growth rate in the first quarter of the 2025–26 financial year, even amid what he described as “challenges posed by economic selfishness.” His remarks were widely interpreted as a subtle response to the US tariffs and Trump’s sharp economic rhetoric.
The Prime Minister said that the latest GDP data, released only days earlier, once again showed India surpassing all expectations and assessments. “At a time when the global economy is facing turbulence, and nations are dealing with the effects of economic self-interest, India has achieved a growth rate of 7.8%. This expansion is broad-based, with every sector of the economy showing resilience,” Modi noted, framing India’s performance as a model of stability and strength despite external hurdles.
The event also marked a historic technological milestone, with PM Modi being presented with Vikram-32, India’s first indigenously developed semiconductor chip. He emphasized that the achievement symbolized India’s push towards self-reliance in critical technologies, building on his earlier Independence Day promise that a “Made-in-India” chip would be launched by year’s end.
According to government data, India’s GDP growth in the April–June quarter of 2025–26 not only outpaced the previous quarter’s 7.7% but also stood as the highest in five quarters. By contrast, the United States economy registered a 3.3% expansion during the same period. India, now the world’s fourth-largest economy, is projected to climb to the third position by 2030 with an estimated GDP of USD 7.3 trillion.
Modi’s remarks came shortly after his return from a significant visit to China, where he appeared alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in a display of solidarity that was widely read as a counterweight to Washington’s increasingly combative trade policies.
The comments also served as a direct rebuttal to Trump’s recent dismissal of India as a “dead economy.” Trump’s administration has imposed steep tariffs of 25% on Indian exports, alongside an additional 25% levy tied to India’s purchase of Russian oil, arguing that New Delhi’s imports were inadvertently fueling Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Apart from India, only Brazil has been hit with combined tariffs of 50%, the highest imposed by Washington on any country.
While Trump has defended his tariff strategy as essential for boosting US manufacturing and protecting jobs, his approach has drawn criticism at home and abroad. Prominent Republican leader Nikki Haley, once a strong ally, has publicly cautioned that alienating India at a time when China’s influence is growing could be a “strategic disaster” for Washington.
India, on its part, has flatly rejected the US tariffs as “unjustified” and signaled its determination to stand firm, portraying the dispute as a test of its resilience and economic sovereignty in the face of protectionist policies.
