What got cheaper or expensive in Budget 2014
Every year, consumers watch the Budget eagerly to know the impact on consumer product prices. The usual suspects are of course present: like all preceding years, cigarettes and gutkhas are set to get more expensive. However, the Budget also delivered pleasant surprises by making some products cheaper. Here is a list of all that got dearer or cheaper.
TELEVISIONS
LCD and LED TVs below 19 inches are set to be cheaper after it was proposed to reduce the basic customs duty (BCD) from 10% to nil. However, do not think the government has forgotten the lesser privileged: the Budget also proposes to exempt colour picture tubes to make cathode ray TVs, used by poorer sections of the society, cheaper.
GARMENTS
To encourage export of readymade garments, duty-free entitlement for import of trimmings, embellishments and other specified items has been increased from 3% to 5% of the value of exports.
DIAMONDS
A woman's best friend just got more dearer. Expect a slight rise in diamond prices after the BCD on semi-processed, half-cut and broken diamonds (currently zero) was fixed at 2.5%.
AUTOMOBILES
Excise duty concessions for the automobile industry have been extended from 30 June 2014 for a period of six months up to 31 December 2014 to help the sector recover from a difficult period.
AERATED WATER
Expect your bottled water to cost more. An additional duty of excise at 5% is proposed to be levied on aerated water containing added sugar.
AIRPORT BAGGAGE Free baggage allowance under the baggage rules is proposed to increase from Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000, so that you can shop to your heart's content when you travel abroad. PROCESSED FOOD To incentivise expansion of processing capacity, the excise duty on specified food processing and packaging machinery has been reduced from 10% to 6%. So, expect your baked beans to become slighly cheaper. CIGARETTES Damaging your lungs just got more expensive. Specific excise duty on cigarettes has been raised in the range of 11% to 72%. Similar increases are also proposed on cigars, cheroots and cigarillos. So, the puff is likely to hurt more. PAN MASALA/GUTKHA Not just cigarettes, the government has also raised the excise duty from 12% to 16% on pan masala and from 60% to 70% on gutkha and chewing tobacco. Bad habits never hurt the pocket so much. FOOTWEAR Excise duty on footwear has been reduced from 12% to 6%, but this does not mean your Nike or Adidas sneakers just got cheaper. This reduction is applicable only on footwear priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per pair. CABS Expensive taxis may just pinch your pocket more. Radio taxis will also come under the perview of service tax to place them on a par with rent-a-cab service.
