India, Feb. 2 -- New Delhi

India's labour-intensive industries such as textiles, seafood, footwear and leather goods received a boost from budget proposals that cut customs duty on scores of inputs, a move aimed at enhancing their competitiveness in the international market, especially the US, where the Trump administration's 50% tariffs pose a high barrier.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several measures to boost exports of seafood, leather and textile products in her budget speech on Sunday.

"I propose to increase the limit for duty-free imports of specified inputs used for processing seafood products for export, from the current 1% to 3% of the FOB value of the previous year's export turnover," said the minister...