#Budget2022: What gets costlier, what's cheaper? Check full list
What's the story
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (February 1) presented her fourth annual budget in Parliament. As part of her speech, she announced several significant changes to the customs duty regime. This will effectively raise or reduce the prices of various commodities in the country. Here is a brief list of items that will get more expensive or cheaper.
Costlier
Imported items to get costlier
Customs duty on several imported items has been hiked. As a result, some items that are expected to become more expensive include imitation jewelry, single or multiple loudspeakers, headphones and earphones, smart meters, solar cells, solar modules, X-ray machines, and parts of electronic toys. Further, the customs duty on umbrellas has been increased to 20%, which will lead to a rise in their prices.
Cheaper
Mobile phone parts to become cheaper
Parts of mobile phones are expected to cost lesser as the government has decided to give duty concessions to makers of mobile phone chargers and certain other items. Besides, cut or polished diamonds and gemstones will soon become cheaper as customs duty on such products has been reduced to 5%. Simply sawn diamond would attract zero customs duty.
Quote
'An encouraging step to promote local manufacturing'
"Revision of customs duties on components or sub-parts of consumer electronics items is a seemingly encouraging step to promote local manufacturing and increase local sourcing of components," said Mandeep Arora, the Managing Director at UBON.
Items
Other items that will become cheaper
Other items that are slated to become cheaper include domestically-made wearables, electronic smart meters, clothes, and cocoa beans. The customs duty on chemicals like methanol, acetic acid, and heavy feedstocks for petroleum refining, has also been brought down. Meanwhile, the customs duty exemption on agricultural tools and steel scrap will be extended, the FM announced in her speech.
Other details
Sitharaman's fourth budget presentation
Sitharaman presented her fourth consecutive annual budget on Tuesday, a day after the Budget Session of the Parliament kicked off. The Budget focuses a great deal on infrastructure, education, and real estate. However, critics of the government and Opposition leaders said that it has little to address the burning issue of unemployment. Moreover, no tax concessions were announced for the salaried class.