• By Nidhi Giri
  • Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:27 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Union Budget 2025 Cheaper/Costlier Items: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her eighth Union Budget for the financial year 2025-2026 on Saturday, February 1, unveiling significant changes affecting the cost of various items for consumers and industries. She annpounced several changes to customs duty, benefiting various sectors. FM Nirmala Sitharaman said, "In this Budget, the proposed development measures span 10 broad areas, focussing on the poor, youth, farmers and women." 

Union Budget 2025 Announcement : Full List Of Cheaper And Costlier Items:

Items That Have Become Cheaper:

Cancer, chronic diseases medicines – 36 life saving drugs fully exempted from basic custom duties.

Electronic Goods – The FM announced reduction of BCD (basic customs duty) to 5 per cent for open cells and other components.

Cobalt powder and waste, scrap of lithium-ion battery, Lead, Zinc and 12 more critical minerals to be exempted from Basic Customs Duty (BCD).

EVs – 35 additional goods for EV battery manufacturing, and 28 additional goods for mobile phone battery manufacturing to be added to list of exempted capital goods

The government proposed to exempt Basic Custom Duty on 37 more medicines.

Exemption for Leather Products - The government will fully exempt wet blue leather from Basic Customs Duty, helping the leather industry by reducing input costs for manufacturers.

Basic Customs Duty exempted on raw materials for manufacturing ships for another 10 years.

Fish Pasteurii - The customs duty on fish pasteurii will be reduced from 30 per cent to 5 per cent, making it more affordable for processing and distribution, benefiting the food and agriculture sectors.whats cheaper

Items That Have Become Costlier:

-Increase in Customs Duty on Interactive Flat Panel Displays - The government has proposed increasing the Basic Customs Duty on interactive flat-panel displays from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. This measure aims to address the inverted duty structure and level the playing field for domestic manufacturers of such products.

Knitted fabrics

Changes In Tariff Structure

Rationalization of Tariff Rates: The Budget also proposes the removal of seven tariff rates, in addition to the seven rates removed in the 2023-24 Budget. This rationalization is part of the ongoing effort to streamline the customs tariff structure and make trade more efficient.

Social Welfare Surcharge Exemption: The Social Welfare Surcharge will be exempted on 82 tariff lines that are subject to a cess, reducing the overall tax burden on businesses and industries that deal with these goods.

Nirmala Sitharaman’s Eighth Consecutive Budget

With Union Budget 2025, Nirmala Sitharaman broke her own record of most budget presentations. The previous record was held by former prime minister Morarji Desai, who presented 10 budgets between 1959-64 and 1967-69. Other prominent finance ministers include P Chidambaram with nine budgets and Pranab Mukherjee with eight.

What Happened In Previous Budgets

Last year, Nirmala Sitharaman announced customs duty cuts on gold, silver, platinum, and other items. Key changes included reduced duties on mobiles, cancer drugs, and certain minerals, while telecom equipment and plastic products will cost more.

Economic Survey 2024-25

The Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled by the Finance Minister in both Houses has estimated India's GDP growing in the range of 6.3-6.8 per cent in FY26, much lower than what is needed to become a developed country, and requires deregulation and reforms in areas like land and labour to stimulate growth.

It indicated that India's world-beating growth is moderating and more needs to be done to achieve the near 8 per cent annual rate required to achieve the Viksit Bharat target by 2047.