New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech on Wednesday lists out which items will burn a hole and which ones may be easy on your pocket from now on.
Here is a list of products that are set to get cheaper or costlier:
Things that are set to be costlier:
- Articles made of gold and platinum
- Articles made of silver
- Copper scrap
- Compounded rubber
- Cigarettes
- Imported electric kitchen chimney (import duty is being raised from 7.5% to 15%)
- Fully imported luxury cars and EVs to cost more as govt raises custom duty from 60% to 70%.
Things that are set to be cheaper
- Camera lenses for phones, laptops, and DSLRs
- Parts of TV panels
- Lithium-ion batteries
- Denatured ethyl alcohol
- Domestic manufacture of shrimp
- Seeds used in the manufacture of diamonds
The government on Wednesday proposed an increase in the import duty on silver dore, bars and articles with a view to promoting domestic manufacturing. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that customs duties on articles made from dore and bars of gold and platinum has been increased.
"I also propose to increase the import duty on silver dore, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum," she said. Customs Duties on dore and bars of gold and platinum were increased earlier this fiscal. Commenting on the announcement, Founder and Managing Director of Kama Jewelry Colin Shah, as per PTI, said that the hike in basic customs duty on articles made from gold bars and import duty on silver will lead to a rise in the final price of locally made jewellery and maybe challenging for local refineries. He is also the former chairman of the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.