Budget 2024: What Gets Cheaper and What Gets Costlier
Posted by admin on 2024-07-23 |
On July 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made history by presenting her seventh consecutive Union Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 during the Budget Session of Parliament. This achievement marks her as the first finance minister to deliver seven consecutive Budget speeches, surpassing former Prime Minister Morarji Desai's record of six consecutive budgets from 1959 to 1964.
Under the new BJP-led NDA government, Sitharaman introduced increased standard deductions and revised tax rates for salaried individuals.
Price Reductions Announced
The finance minister revealed several measures aimed at reducing prices for various items:
- Basic Customs Duty on mobile phones and mobile chargers has been reduced to 15 percent.
- Customs duty on gold and silver has been lowered to 6 percent, while platinum now stands at 6.4 percent.
- Three cancer treatment medicines are now exempt from Basic Customs Duty.
- The list of exempted capital goods used in solar panel manufacturing has been expanded.
- TDS rate on e-commerce transactions has been reduced from 1 percent to 0.1 percent.
- Basic Customs Duty on ferronickel and blister copper has been removed.
- Certain broodstock, polychaete worms, shrimp, and fish feed now have a reduced Basic Customs Duty of 5 percent.
- Inputs for manufacturing shrimp and fish feed are now exempt from customs duty.
- To boost exports in the leather and textile sectors, the Basic Customs Duty on real down filling material from duck or goose has been reduced.
- Basic Customs Duty on ammonium nitrate has been adjusted from 7.5 to 10 percent to support new and existing capacities.
- Basic Customs Duty on oxygen-free copper used in manufacturing resistors has been removed.
- Customs duties on 25 critical minerals for sectors like nuclear energy, renewable energy, space, defense, telecommunications, and high-tech electronics have been fully exempted, with a reduced Basic Customs Duty on two of them.
Price Increases Announced
The finance minister also outlined items that will see a rise in prices:
Customs duty on ammonium nitrate is increased to 10 percent.
Non-biodegradable plastics now face a customs duty hike to 25 percent.
Specified telecom equipment will see an increase in Basic Customs Duty to 15 percent from the previous 10 percent.
A TCS of 1 percent will be levied on notified goods valued over ?10 lakh.
The customs duty on solar glass will not be extended.
Tax and Pension Revisions
Sitharaman announced that the standard deduction for salaried employees under the new tax regime will be increased from ?50,000 to ?75,000. Additionally, the tax deduction on family pensions for pensioners will be raised from ?15,000 to ?25,000.
Revised tax rate under New Tax Regime as follows:
?0-3 lakh - nil tax
?3-7 lakh - 5%
?7-10 lakh - 10%
?10-12 lakh - 15%
?12-15 lakh - 20%
Above ?15 lakh - 30%
Economic Survey Insights
The Economic Survey for 2023-24, presented by the finance minister on July 22, 2024, frequently mentioned the terms ‘Service’ and ‘growth’. Continuing the trend of recent full Union Budgets, the Budget for 2024 was delivered in a paperless format.
