Union Budget 2025: What's getting cheaper and what's getting costlier?

While life-saving drugs, critical minerals, and EV components will see price drops, flat panel displays and certain other tariff lines are set to become more expensive.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Unseen) carries the Budget Tablet as she arrives at Parliament House to present the Union Budget 2025, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Unseen) carries the Budget Tablet as she arrives at Parliament House to present the Union Budget 2025, in New Delhi on Saturday.(Photo | ANI)
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MUMBAI: It’s not just your tax liability that gets lighter for those opting for the new income tax regime to the tune of Rs 1 trillion collectively in taxes foregone, there are some life-saving drugs, critical minerals, and components for electric vehicles that will also become cheaper, but some goods like flat panel displays are set to be dearer with the budget proposing to jack up import duties on them.

This is because Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam has made some key changes in customs duties and exemptions in the budget, impacting various sectors. While life-saving drugs, critical minerals, and EV components will see price drops, flat panel displays and certain other tariff lines are set to become more expensive.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Unseen) carries the Budget Tablet as she arrives at Parliament House to present the Union Budget 2025, in New Delhi on Saturday.
A dash-for-growth budget with the power to change us all at the deepest level

What’s Getting Cheaper?

Life-saving drugs: The finance minister fully exempted as many as 36 essential medicines from basic customs duty (BCD), while she added 12 more minerals into the list of critical minerals, including cobalt powder, lithium-ion battery waste, lead, and zinc, to be exempt from BCD.

The list of components for EV & mobile battery manufacturing has been extended to 35 additional goods for EV battery production and 28 for mobile phone battery manufacturing which will also get BCD exemption. Similarly, wet blue leather is now fully exempt from import duties now.

Shipbuilding: She has also extended BCD exemption for ships and their parts for 10 more years. Also, with the removal of social welfare surcharge, 82 tariff lines currently under cess get exempted now.

Ethernet switches: BCD on carrier-grade ethernet switches has been reduced from 20% to 10%, aligning them with non-carrier-grade switches, while customs duty on open-cell displays has been cut to 5%.

Imported fish and other seafood will become cheaper with the customs duty on fish paste slashed from 30% to 5% and the duty on frozen fish now taxed at 5%, down from 30%. Duty on dish hydrolysates also cut from 15% to 5%.

What’s getting costlier?

The budget proposes to up the duties on imported flat panel displays by doubling the BCD from 10% to 20%, impacting television sets and mobile phones.

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