Samir Arora, markets expert and founder of Helios Capital Management, had a radical suggestion for Indians to offset the impact of US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports. Arora suggested that Indians need to work on Saturdays and Sundays to offset the impact of the US tariff. 

That’s right. He even provided the calculations to support his argument by sharing a “thought experiment” around the impact of a 10 per cent drop in India’s exports to the US, which accounts for around 2 per cent of the country’s GDP at present. 

In the words of Samir Arora: “Thought experiment. India exports to USA are 2 pct odd of GDP. If they fall 10 pct, India loses 0.2 pct. Gdp growth is 6 pct odd. So to recover 0.2 pct should take 12 days. Can recover to pre tariff levels by working on Saturdays and Sundays for 6 weeks. Get on it, boys and gals.”

His take left netizens facepalming hard, with some saying in jest that he forgot about the public holidays that Indian employees get. Others even likened it to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour work week take, which grabbed eyeballs. 

“You forgot adding public holidays,” a user mentioned. 

“People are losing jobs in weekdays. What additional work to do on weekends!! Trump will not stop just with product export. He is coming for services as well,” a second user said. 

“Samir, you are getting influenced by Mr NRN,” a third user commented.  Another asked: “Arre Narayan murti sir aap(sic)?”

A fifth user chimed in: “Narayan Murthy doctrine is becoming all the more relevant.”

On Wednesday, Trump announced the imposition of 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports and an unspecified penalty for Russian defence and oil imports. To add insult to injury, the POTUS called India and Russia “dead economies”.