NEW DELHI: Gold, silver and other precious metals along with imported mobile phones, certain cancer drugs and medical devices are set to become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in customs duty in the Union Budget 2024-25.However, certain items such as imported garden umbrellas and laboratory chemicals are set to become costlier due to an increase in basic customs duty.Sitharaman in her Budget speech on Tuesday proposed reducing “customs duties on gold and silver to 6 per cent and that on platinum to 6.4 per cent” to enhance domestic value addition for jewellery in the country.Moreover, to provide relief to cancer patients, the finance minister proposed to fully exempt three more medicines from customs duties — Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab.She also proposed “changes in the BCD (basic customs duty) on x-ray tubes & flat panel detectors for use in medical x-ray machines under the Phased Manufacturing Programme, so as to synchronise them with domestic capacity addition.” Earlier X-ray tubes used in manufacturing of X-ray machines for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary use attracted 15 per cent BCD, which has been proposed to reduce to 5 per cent.The government also proposed slashing import duty on mobile phones, chargers and some components that are used for manufacturing of handsets.Sitharaman said with a three-fold increase in domestic production and almost 100-fold jump in exports of mobile phones over the last six years, the Indian mobile phone industry has matured.”In the interest of consumers, I now propose to reduce the BCD (basic customs duty) on mobile phone, mobile PCBA and mobile charger to 15 per cent,” Sitharaman said.Earlier BCD on mobile phones, chargers and motherboard was 20 per cent.The government has proposed to exempt specified goods for use in manufacturing of connectors in mobile phones and oxygen-free copper for use in manufacturing of resistors (an electronic component) from BCD levy.The BCD on specified goods for use in manufacturing of connectors was in the range of 5 to 7.5 per cent and oxygen-free copper for use in manufacturing of resistors attracted 5 per cent BCD.Similarly, customs duty on 25 critical minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt and rare earth elements, which are critical for sectors like nuclear energy, renewable energy, space, defence, telecommunications, and high-tech electronics either got fully exemption or reduced.”This will provide a major fillip to the processing and refining of such minerals and help secure their availability for these strategic and important sectors,” she said.The finance minister also proposed removing BCD on specified capital goods for use in manufacturing of solar cells or solar modules and said this will “support energy transition”.However, she withdrew customs duty exemption on import of solar glass and tinned copper interconnect “in view of sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity”.Similarly, Sitharaman also proposed reducing BCD on certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp and fish feed to 5 per cent to promote India’s seafood exports, which has touched an all-time high of more than Rs 60,000 crore in the last financial year.For leather and textile sectors, she proposed to remove duty on import of wet white, crust and finished leather for manufacturing of textile or leather garments, footwear or other leather products for export.”…to enhance the competitiveness of exports, I propose to reduce BCD on real down filling material from duck or goose. I am also making additions to the list of exempted goods for manufacture of leather and textile garments, footwear and other leather articles for export,” she added.Sitharam proposed to increase BCD on garden umbrella from 20 per cent to 20 per cent or Rs 60 per piece, whichever is higher.Moreover, to support existing and new capacities in the pipeline, she also proposed to increase the BCD on ammonium nitrate from 7.5 to 10 per cent.Besides, she raised BCD on poly vinyl chloride (PVC) flex films, which is also known as PVC flex banners or PVC flex sheets, from existing 10 per cent to 25 per cent as they are non-biodegradable and hazardous for environment and health.Moreover, to incentivise domestic manufacturing, the finance minister proposed to increase the BCD from 10 to 15 per cent on PCBA of specified telecom equipment from 10 to 15 per cent.Quick Take: An all-is-well, we-don’t-have-to-do-anything-significant-to-speed-up-growth budget
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