Government presents Union Budget 2018 in the Parliament today. The government announced changes in excise and customs duties on certain items which are set to get costlier after the budget.
News, Feb 2018, India
Union Budget 2018 - Proposals announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his much-anticipated budget speech could put pressure on your personal or family budget more if you had anticipated to buy mobile or television after the budget. The Union Budget 2018 presented in the Parliament today in which the government announced changes in excise and customs duties on certain items which are set to get costlier after the budget. As per the Budget, Customs duty on mobile phones has been increased from 15% to 20%. Education cess increased from 3% to 4%, which will mean additional cuts in middle class income.
The most striking products from the list are those for the many poor people. Mobile: which has become a biggest tool of communication for every Indian. Footwear - off course everyone needs it, and vegetables, which has a potential to drive people towards non-veg meals, with higher risk.
Footwear
* Vegetable, fruit juices, including orange and cranberry
* Sunglasses
* Miscellaneous food preparations other than soya protein
* Perfumes and toilet waters
* Coloured gemstones
* Diamonds
* Imitation jewelry
* Smart watches/wearable devices
* LCD/ LED TV panels
* Cars and motorcycles
* Mobile phones
* Silver
* Gold
* Sunscreen, suntan, manicure, pedicure preparations
* Preparations for oral dental hygiene, denture fixative pastes and powders; dental floss
* Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations,
* Deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories, perfumery
* Scent sprays and similar toilet sprays
* Truck and Bus radial tyres
* Silk Fabrics
* Furniture
* Mattresses
* Lamps
* Wrist watches, pocket watches, clocks
* Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, wheeled toys, dolls’ carriages, dolls, toys, puzzles of all kinds
* Video game consoles
* Articles and equipment for sports or outdoor games, swimming pools and paddling pools
* Cigarette and other lighters, candles
* Kites
* Edible/vegetable oils such as olive oil, groundnut oil
The products that gets cheaper is interestingly not so widely used by people as much as footwear, vegetables or mobile phones. Almost all items that's going to be costlier are products in billions of people uses regularly. And also the list is very tiny when compared to the items gets costlier, one has to really take a microscope to find the products or services that will get cheaper. That make it more clear how this budget is for common man. It will hurt them badly.
* Raw cashew nuts
* Raw materials, parts or accessories used in making cochlear implants
* Solar tempered glass or solar tempered glass used for manufacture solar panels/modules
* Select capital goods and electronics such as ball screws and linear motion guides.
By looking at the upcoming elections finance minister announced bumper relief for poor sections of the society. He announced that more than 10 crores from the poor and vulnerable sect of the society will be covered in the scheme where each family will get Rs 5 lakh per year. With the number of people covered in the healthcare scheme, this indeed is one of the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the World. But the funding for the same is a big question mark, really.
Will the raise in customs duty in budget 2018 will have any effect on the growing imports bill? not really. If you look at Chinese import data, it has steadily gone up over the last 3 years. It has almost doubled.
