The last full Union Budget of the Modi 2.0 government has emerged as a middle class and poor friendly budget ahead of state and national elections in the next couple of years. The rebate limit has been extended to Rs 7 lakh which means people who earn up to that much per annum won't have to pay income tax. At the same time customs duty exemptions, reductions and hikes have also been announced, which will affect the prices of consumer products.
Here's a full breakdown of what will get costlier and what will be cheaper when the new rates are implemented.
What will cost less?
Reduction of duty on Epichlorohydrin will decrease input costs for textiles, paper products, inks and dyes, allowing manufacturers to bring down prices.
Ethyl alcohol is now exempt from customs duty, which means that pharma and personal care products, including cosmetics will also be manufactured at a lower cost.
Electric vehicle adoption will receive a boost from tax exemption for lithium ion batteries.
Smartphones may get cheaper with customs duty exemption on parts to produce connectors and cameras. While TVs will also come at a reduced cost thanks to a duty reduction on panels from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
What's expensive now?
A duty hike on Vinyl Chloride Monomer to 2.5 per cent, might make PVC plastic products expensive.
Silver jewelry will get expensive with a hike in customs duty to 10 per cent, and gold and platinum jewelry will also be costlier as they now attract higher duty at 25 per cent.
Imitation jewelry will also get expensive with a customs duty hike of 5 per cent, even though seeds for lab grown diamonds are exempt from the levy.
Completely built vehicle units will attract 10 per cent higher customs duty, and duties on EVs and other vehicles in semi knocked down form have also been hiked by 5 per cent, making automobile manufacturing expensive.
Bicycles and toys will also attract higher customs duty at 35 per cent and 70 per cent respectively, which will increase prices.
People will have to shell out more for cigarettes with a central excise duty hike, while the same has been dropped for blended CNG, making green mobility cheaper.
