India Quartz Producers Seek Government Help

BANGALORE, India – The quartz-surface industry here is asking the Indian government to help with financial restructuring to offset anticipated losses due to U.S. tariffs.

The Federation of Quartz Surface Manufacturers of India (FQSMI) is seeking a three-year moratorium on principal and interest payments, massive aid on interest rates, and a large drop of India’s goods-and-services tax (GST), among other actions reported by the Deccan Herald newspaper.

Govindaraju Krishna Rao, FQSMI founder president, made the appeal for aid to Prime Minister Narendra Modi only days before the new 50% U.S. tariff on goods from India goes into effect tomorrow.

“Without immediate government intervention, this promising industry risks collapse at a critical growth stage, potentially rendering thousands of jobs and billions in investments unviable,” Krishna Rao noted.

In the 2020s, India became the prime source of quartz surfaces for U.S. distributors, fabricators, and end-use customers after the imposition of drastic U.S. unfair-trade duties on products from China.  An analysis of the U.S. quartz-surface market by Hard-Surface Report showed India supplying 26.1%, with Vietnam placing a distant second among foreign producers with 12.9%.

“With 95 per cent of production exported to the USA, our exports for 2024-25 are valued at over $700 million (approximately Rs 6,000 crore),” Krishna Rao wrote.

The FQSMI appeal noted that investment in Indian quartz-surface facilities is now over $570 million, with an additional $114 million in ongoing expansion. The federation also cited that banks hold more than $456 million in loans and working-capital financing for the industry.

Earlier in the month, Krishna Rao told the Herald that the announcement of the 50% tariffs effectively brought the quartz-surface industry in India to a halt, with U.S. orders involving thousands of containers being cancelled at the shipping docks.

“All efforts invested over the past decade to become America’s largest quartz surface supplier have been nullified,” Krishna Rao wrote to Moda. “Exports have ground to a halt, confirmed orders are being cancelled due to tariff uncertainty, and already-produced goods remain unshipped, causing enormous financial losses,”

The FQSMI’s primary demands involve the huge amounts in loans. The group seeks a three-year moratorium on loan-installment and term-loan-interest payments, along with the government providing funding to cut interest rates by a “subvention” totalling 50%.

The industry group also argues for a reduction on the GST rate on quartz surfaces from 18% to 5% “to enhanced domestic competitiveness,” along with the ability to use 25% of existing working capital limits, without additional security, to develop new export markets and aid in the current crisis.

Other actions include restrictions on marble and other stone products to lift domestic quartz-surface sales, plus a $57 million allocation to create new market proposals.