Budget 2025: List of Items That Got Cheaper and Costlier

Budget 2025: For the fiscal years 2025-2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, for the eighth time in a row, continues to present the Union Budget. Below are the items that have become cheaper or costlier.

This two-time full budget of the Modi 3.0 government was ushered in after the government took over for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This year's emphasis will be on 10 broad heads beginning with farming, manufacturing, employment, MSMEs, uplifting rural areas-and so on.

"This budget aims to work on transformative reforms," Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

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Items that got cheaper

• Thirty-six drugs for cancer and for rare diseases will also be exempted from Basic Customs Duty.
• The government proposed to exempt Basic Custom Duty on 37 more medicines.
• Basic Customs Duty will be reduced to 5 per cent from 30 per cent on fish pasteurii.
• Basic Customs Duty on fish hydrolysate for the manufacture of aquatic feed deprecated has been reduced from 15 per cent to 5 per cent.
• Other chemical compounds-containing pyrimidine or piperazine ring Basic Customs Duty reduced from 10 per cent to 7.5 per cent.
• Basic Customs Duty on synthetic flavouring essences and mixtures of odoriferous substances of a kind used in food or drink industries is reduced to 20 per cent from 100 per cent.
• The centre proposes to provide full exemption on import of cobalt product, LED, zinc, lithium-ion battery scrap and 12 critical minerals as Basic Customs Duty.
• Basic Customs Duty on Platinum findings have also been reduced from 25 per cent to 6.4 per cent.
• Basic Customs Duty has been exempted on raw materials for manufacturing ships for another ten years.
• The Centre has also announced schemes to promote handicraft exports.
• The government will fully exempt wet blue leather from Basic Customs Duty.
• Raw materials for manufacture of wired headsets, microphones and receivers, USB cables, etc. would be exempted from Basic Customs Duty.
• The duty on Ethernet switches carrier-grade is being lowered from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
• The motorcycles not exceeding 1600 CC engine capacity, in fact, shall have the Basic Customs Duty of 40 per cent instead of the current 50.
• Motorbikes that would have an engine capacity from 1600 CC onward have the Basic Customs Duty reduced from 50 per cent to 30 per cent.
• Export duty on crust leather (hides and skins) reduced from 20 to 0 per cent.

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Items that became costlier

• Basic Customs Duty on knitted fabrics that fall under specific tariff items is expected to go up from 10/20 per cent to 20 or ₹115 per kg, whichever is applicable.
• Increase in Basic Customs Duty on interactive flat panel display has been proposed from 10 per cent to 20 per cent with the objective of correcting inversion in duty structure, said Ms. Finance Minister.

The finance minister proposed setting a maximum limit for provisional assessment, i.e. two years.

Union Budget 2024

During the Union Budget presented last year, the finance minister announced the measures leading to a reduction in prices of mobile phones, gold, silver, and copper.

Three medicines for cancer treatment were also exempted from the Basic Customs Duty.

In 2024, the central government had proposed an increase in customs duty on non-biodegradable plastics to 25 per cent. Basic customs duty on specified telecom equipment has also been increased from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

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