New Delhi:Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced that the import of defence equipment that are not being manufactured in India are being exempted from basic customs duty.
"My proposal is driven with the objective of securing our borders achieving higher domestic value addition through Make in India reducing import, protection to MSME and promoting clean energy curbing non-essential import and correcting inversions," she said while presenting the Union Budget for 2019-20 in Parliament.
"Defence has an immediate requirement of modernization and upgradation. This is a national priority. For this purpose, import of defence equipment that are not being manufactured in India are being exempted from basic customs duty," Sitharaman said.