Pune, Aug. 12 -- Pune-based entrepreneur Kunal Gupta is steering his e-bike startup towards Rs 150 crore in exports this year, with over Rs 100 crore worth of shipments planned for the United States alone, but fresh tariff barriers are threatening to put the brakes on growth.

When Gupta set out to build an e-cycle startup a few years ago, his goal was simple: to put Indian engineering on the global mobility map. Fast forward to 2025, and his company has lined up exports worth Rs 150 crore for the year, with more than Rs 100 crore headed to the United States.

But global trade is rarely a smooth ride; recent US tariff hikes on Indian e-bike imports, jumping from zero to 50 per cent, have hit the sector hard. Margins have tightened, shipme...