Reserve Bank Of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that is India is proactively engaging with the US administration on trade, on a day tariffs announced by President Donald Trump kicked in.

In an address to announce the decisions made by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Mr Malhotra said, “Quantification of impact of global developments on growth currently difficult.”

“To deliberate and decide on the policy reparations, the global economic outlook is fast changing. The recent trade tariff-related measures have exacerbated uncertainties, clouding the economic outlook across regions, posing new headwinds for global growth and inflation. Amidst this turbulence, the US dollar has weakened appreciably,” he stated.

He added that while global trade and policy uncertainties will impede growth, there is no concern about managing domestic growth.

In other announcements, the central bank said the repo rate will be cut by 25 basis points to 6 per cent. This marks the second consecutive rate cut in recent months. On February 7, the central bank had reduced the repo rate from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent.

The announcements came after Trump’s punishing tariffs on dozens of economies came in force, including over 100 per cent in levies against Chinese goods, dramatically ramping up a devastating global trade war.

Trump said the United States was “taking in almost $2 billion a day” from tariffs.

Benchmark equity indices slumped in early trade after a day’s breather in line with losses in Asian markets amid escalating trade tensions. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 554.02 points to 73,673.06 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 178.85 points to 22,357.

In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index, South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were trading lower while Shanghai SSE Composite index quoted marginally higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.63 per cent.