Here’s What Gets Cheaper, What’s Expensive In Budget 2025 for ‘Gareeb, Annadata, Nari’

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the 2025 Budget in the backdrop of the GDP growth rate projected to fall to 4-year low of 6.4 per cent in the current financial year. Dedicating the budget to the ‘gareeb’, youth, ‘annadata’ and ‘nari’, the FM had also spoken about her government’s vision of inclusive growth and intent to increase the spending power of the middle class during her Budget speech. As the FM closes the Budget presentation, here’s a look at what has really got cheaper or expensive for the people of the country.

Items that have become cheaper:

• Mobile phones: 28 additional goods for mobile phone battery production to come in list of exempted capital goods.
• 36 Lifesaving drugs and medicines to be added to the list of medicines fully exempted from Basic Customs Duty.
• EV batteries
• Frozen Fish Paste (Surimi): Customs duty on Frozen Fish Paste (Surimi) to be reduced from 30% to 5% for manufacture and export of its analogue products.
• Wet Blue leather
• Carrier-grade ethernet switches
• 12 Critical minerals
• Open Cells of LCD/LED TVs
• Basic Customs Duty exempted on raw materials for manufacturing ships for another 10 years.
• Marine products
• Cobalt products
• LED
• Scrap of lithium-ion battery, Lead, Zinc
•  Raw materials for manufacturing ships will be exempted from BCD for the next 10 years, encouraging growth in the maritime sector and facilitating the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
• Imported gold and silver: Import duties slashed to 6%.
• Platinum: Customs duty reduced to 6.4%

Items that have become costlier:

• Some goods are set to become costlier, particularly in the tech and manufacturing sectors.
• The Centre proposed to increase the Basic Customs Duty on interactive flat-panel displays from 10% to 20%.

• The Centre introduced a time limit of two years for provisional assessments, which will ensure quicker and more efficient customs clearance for businesses. This change will impact certain industries dealing with imports and exports.
• Knitted Fabrics
• Higher taxes may apply on luxury goods, alcohol, tobacco, and non-essential imports.
• There might also be increased duties on polluting vehicles as part of efforts to reduce environmental impact.
• Plastic products: Customs duty increased