By Rajesh Roy 

NEW DELHI -- India is set to impose higher tariffs on some goods imported from the U.S. after delaying the plan for about a year, two government officials with knowledge of the matter said Friday.

The move, widely seen as a retaliation for Washington's recent decision to withdraw a key trade privilege from India, comes days ahead of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to New Delhi to boost bilateral ties.

The higher import tax on U.S. goods will have an impact of around $220 million in terms of cost, one of these officials said.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry confirmed the decision, which is expected to be formally notified by the Finance Ministry and be effective starting June 16.

"We have apprised the U.S. of our planned move, but it's not retaliatory. We waited for one year and are simply going ahead now," said one of the officials familiar with the plan.

India in June decided to raise import taxes on 29 U.S. products, including walnuts, apples, almonds and pulses, by as much as 120%. But the government put the plan on hold hoping that the U.S. would reconsider its decision of raising tariffs on some Indian steel and aluminum exports.

However, the U.S. announced early this month it would withdraw benefits under the so-called Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP. That prompted New Delhi to go ahead with tariffs now. India was the ninth-largest beneficiary of GSP.

The benefit withdrawal will add tariffs of as much as 7% on Indian exports of goods like chemicals, auto parts and tableware to the U.S., which in 2018 accounted for more than 11%, or $6.3 billion, of India's total exports of goods valued at $54.4 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service, a research agency for the U.S. Congress.

Write to Rajesh Roy at rajesh.roy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 14, 2019 09:16 ET (13:16 GMT)