Union Budget 2023: What gets cheaper and What gets costlier

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday presented the Budget 2023-24 making several important announcements. After the announcements, as expected, some commodities will become cheaper, and some will put weight on citizens’ pockets. 

What Gets Cheaper 

As per the Budget, toys, bicycles, automobiles, mobile phones, electric vehicles, televisions, lithium ion-cell batteries, and camera lenses have now become cheaper. 

Announcing the same, the FM said, “To promote value addition in the manufacturing of TVs, I propose to reduce the Basic Customs Duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5%.” 

FM also announced relief on Customs Duty on the import of certain parts and inputs like camera lenses. She added that the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries would continue for another year. 

The official release said, “To further provide impetus to green mobility, she announced to extend the customs duty exemption to import of capital goods and machinery required for the manufacture of lithium-ion cells for batteries used in electric vehicles.”

The Minister proposed to provide relief in customs duty on the import of certain parts and inputs like camera lenses and continue the concessional duty on lithium-ion batteries for another year to deepen domestic value addition in the manufacture of mobile phones, the statement added.

On toys, bicycles and automobiles, she said, “I propose to reduce the number of basic custom duty rates on goods other than textiles and agriculture from 21 to 13. As a result, there are minor changes in the basic customs duties, cesses & surcharges on some items, including toys, bicycles, and automobiles.”

What Gets Costlier 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced an increase in customs duty on cigarettes, making them costlier. The tax on cigarettes has been hiked by 16 per cent.

“The Finance Minister proposed to revise the National Calamity Contingent Duty upwards on specified cigarettes by about 16%. It was last revised three years ago,” the Ministry of Finance release said.

Apart from this, jewellery will also get expensive now as gold, silver and platinum will become costlier. 

Making the announcement, FM proposed to increase the duties on articles made from dore and bars of gold and platinum to enhance the duty differential.

“The customs duties on dore and bars of gold and platinum were increased earlier this fiscal. She also proposed to increase the import duty on silver dore, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum,” the release added.

Also, citizens will have to spend more on brass and kitchen chimney from abroad.