The Government on Wednesday proposed to reduce the basic customs duty rates on goods, other than textiles and agriculture, to 13 per cent from 21 per cent. According to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, there were minor changes in the basic customs duties, cesses and surcharges on some items including toys, bicycles, automobiles and naphtha.
In a blow to cigarette-manufacturing companies like ITC, the government has decided to hike National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) on specified cigarettes by about 16 per cent.
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In terms of more sops to the electric vehicle industry, customs duty on specified capital goods or machinery for manufacture of lithium-ion cell for use in battery of electrically operated vehicle (EVs) extended to March 31, 2024.
Custom duties on clothes, frozen mussels, frozen squids, asafoetida, cocoa beans, methyl alcohol, acetic acid, cut and polished diamonds, chemicals needed for petroleum products, camera lens for cellular mobile phones and steel scrap have been reduced and eventually, these items will get cheaper.
Others include which will become cheaper include parts of open cells of TV panels, Denatured ethyl alcohol used in chemical industry and compounded rubber.
Customs duty on camera lens and its inputs or parts for use in the manufacture of camera module of cellular mobile phone reduced to zero and concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries was extended for another year.
Among the raw materials needed for factories, items like acid-grade fluorspar, denatured ethyl alcohol, crude glycerin would get cheaper, owing to the change in their duties while basic customs duty exemption on raw materials for the manufacture of CRGO Steel, ferrous scrap and nickel cathode continued.
According to the Union Budget document, concessional basic custom duty of 2.5 per cent on copper scrap is continued.
It also mentions that the government has cut basic customs duty (BCD) on seeds used in the manufacture of lab-grown diamonds.
The government has also announced that the basic customs duty on electric kitchen chimney has been increased to 15 per cent from 7.5 per cent where basic customs duty on heat coil for the manufacture of electric kitchen chimneys reduced to 15 per cent from 20 per cent for a push to local manufacturing.
The Finance Minister also proposed to reduce the customs duty on key inputs for domestic manufacturing of shrimp feed to enhance the export the sector’s competitiveness. FM said that the marine products recorded the highest export growth in the last financial year, benefiting farmers in the coastal states of the country.