Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the Union Budget 2021-22. The government emphasised more on healthcare, infrastructure in the Budget, while giving no particular relief for middle class in terms of income tax exemption.
The Budget this year was presented under extraordinary circumstances as the country fought coronavirus pandemic. The central government will borrow around Rs 12 lakh crore in FY22. The government's expenditure is pegged at Rs 34.83 lakh crore, including Rs 5.54 lakh crore of capital spending, the finance minister said. The fiscal deficit for FY21 has been pegged at 9.5 per cent of India's GDP due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the highest so far.
Like every Budget, the finance minister also announced changes in tax and duty on many items. Here's a list of things which will get cheaper and expensive after the Budget announcement:
Expensive -- Mobile phones, solar invertors and lanterns, auto parts, prawn feed, synthetic gem stones, cotton and silk products, steel screws, plastic builder wares, compressors for refrigerators and air conditioners, LED lights, among others
The Centre has increased basic customs duty on cotton, raw silk and silk yarn, prawn feed, synthetic cut and polished stones, auto parts like ignition wiring sets, safety glass, among others. Besides, customs duty has been increased on parts of mobile phones and other items in electronic sector to promote domestic value addition.
"To build up domestic capacity, we will notify a phased manufacturing plan for solar cells and solar panels. At present, to encourage domestic production, we are raising duty on solar invertors from 5 per cent to 20 per cent, and on solar lanterns from 5 per cent to 15 per cent," the finance minister said.
Cheaper -- Steel and copper products, nylon clothes, naphtha, copper products, among others
While the government has reduced customs duty on gold and silver, gold and silver dore bar, among others, it has proposed an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on them at the rate of 2.5 per cent. Similarly, while basic customs duty rates have been reduced on alcoholic beverages, fertilizers, among others, AIDC will be applicable on them.
AIDC has also been levied on petrol and diesel at the rate of Rs 2.5 per litre and Rs 4 per litre, respectively.
Consequent to imposition of AIDC on petrol and diesel, the basic excise duty (BED) and Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) rates have been reduced on them so that overall consumer does not bear any additional burden, as per the Budget document.
"Consequently, unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of Rs 1.4, and Rs 1.8 per litre respectively. The SAED on unbranded petrol and diesel shall be Rs 11 and Rs 8 per litre respectively. Similar changes have also been made for branded petrol and diesel," it said.