(Reuters) – Shares of Indian drugmakers surged 4% on Thursday, in contrast to the drop in the broader stock market, after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration exempted pharmaceutical products from the list of imports hit by reciprocal tariffs.
The pharma sub-index was the only one among the 13 major sectors that was trading higher. The benchmark Nifty 50 was down 0.74%.
Trump imposed a 26% reciprocal tariff on Indian imports as part of his wider plan to impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from April 5, but the duties do not apply to certain goods, including pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. imports nearly a third of Indian pharma products sold overseas. India’s pharma exports to the U.S. jumped 16% to about $9 billion last fiscal year, according to data from government-backed trade body Pharmexcil.
On the day, Dr Reddy’s climbed 6% and was the top gainer on the benchmark Nifty 50 index. Gland Pharma surged 12% and was the top gainer among pharma stocks.
Cipla and Sun Pharma rose 4% each.
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
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