Union Budget 2023: Cars, smartphones, TVs to get cheaper as government slashes custom duties

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2023 announced that the government has announced to slash custom duties on cars, smartphones, TVs and several other goods. Along with it, FM also announced reduction in cess and taxes in import of certain parts used in manufacturing of these products. This means that cars, smartphones, TVs and other goods will likely get cheaper after the reduced duties.

“A simplified tax structure with fewer tax rates helps in reducing compliance burden and improving tax administration. I propose to reduce the number of basic customs duty rates on goods, other than textiles and agriculture, from 21 to 13. As a result, there are minor changes in the basic custom duties, cesses and surcharges on some items including toys, bicycles, automobiles and naphtha.” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her speech.

“To further provide impetus to green mobility, customs duty exemption is being extended to import of capital goods and machinery required for manufacture of lithium-ion cells for batteries used in electric vehicles.” she further added.

“The exemption from customs duty on machinery required for setting up 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.