Budget 2023: Cars, smartphones, televisions to get cheaper as government reduces customs duties

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• Feb 1, 2023 | Dhupali Das

Budget 2023: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government is reducing customs duties on a variety of goods and parts used in the manufacture...

Digital Desk: While presenting the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will reduce customs duties on cars, smartphones, televisions, and several other goods. Along with it, the finance minister announced a reduction in cess and taxes on the import of certain parts used in the manufacture of these products. This means that automobiles, smartphones, televisions, and other goods will likely get cheaper as a result of the reduced duties.

"A simplified tax structure with fewer tax rates helps in reducing the compliance burden and improving tax administration. Other than textiles and agriculture, I propose reducing the number of basic customs duty rates on goods from 21 to 13. As a result, some basic customs duties, cesses, and surcharges on items such as toys, bicycles, automobiles, and naphtha have undergone minor changes," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her speech.

"Customs duty exemption is being extended to imports of capital goods and machinery required for the manufacture of lithium-ion cells for batteries used in electric vehicles," she added.

"The exemption from customs duty on machinery required for setting up a lithium-ion cell plant would help in increasing the return on investment for the project and would likely aid in making domestic manufacturing more competitive," said Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner at EY.