Phones, TVs, Electric Vehicles May Get Cheaper After Budget Announcement

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today made several announcements that could impact the poor and middle classes. While the much awaited income tax rates and slab revisions made the most noise, several consumer products are also set to be cheaper because of duty exemptions and tax cuts.

Parts for mobile phones and TV panels manufactured in India, raw materials for the electric vehicle industry, and machinery for Lithium-ion batteries will now be cheaper as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced cuts in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of their components.

With a significant push on green mobility, the government has also announced measures that could bring down prices of electric vehicles.

“To further provide impetus to green mobility, customs duty exemption is being extended to import of capital goods and machinery required for manufacture of lithium-ion cells for batteries used in electric vehicles,” the Finance Minister said in her speech today.

However, import of electric vehicles will be costlier than before. Fully imported cars, including electric vehicles, and those assembled in India with imported parts will also become costlier with the finance minister increasing customs duty.

However, articles made of gold, platinum and silver, copper scrap, compounded rubber, cigarettes, imported bicycles and toys, and imported electric kitchen chimneys will be among items to cost more now.