Budget 2024: What’s cheaper, what’s costlier
Items that have become cheaper:
➤ Duty on mobiles, chargers and accessories reduced to 15%
➤ Customs duty on gold and silver lowered to 6%, and on platinum to 6.4%
➤ Three cancer treatment drugs (Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab) exempted from basic customs duty
➤ Removal of basic customs duty on ferro nickel and blister copper
➤ Expansion of exempted capital goods list for solar panel manufacturing
➤ Full customs duty exemption on 25 critical minerals
➤ Reduction in customs duty on shrimp and fish feed to 5%
➤ Customs duty cut on leather goods
➤ Reduced duty on X-ray machines for medical, surgical, dental or veterinary use
Items that have become costlier:
➤ Basic customs duty on certain telecom equipment increased from 10% to 15%
➤ Higher customs duty on plastic products
➤ Duty on ammonium nitrate raised from 7.5% to 10%
➤ Increased customs duty on imported garden umbrellas
➤ Higher duty on laboratory chemicals
Additionally, for those choosing the new tax regime, the standard deduction for salaried employees will rise from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. The government also proposes increasing the capital gains exemption limit for certain financial assets to Rs 1.25 lakh per year for the middle and upper middle class.
