New Delhi:
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday presented his govt’s last full budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls. Jaitley's budget did not strike the right chord with the salaried class as govt made no changes in individual income tax rate.
After the proposals announced by the finance minister, few things and services are likely to get cheaper while few could pinch your pocket. Customs duty on mobile phones and TV sets have been increased and both will get expensive.
Reacting to the budget, Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that Arun Jaitley had failed the fiscal consolidation test in Budget 2018-19 and this would have serious consequences.
Here is the list of products and services that will get cheaper and costlier:
What's Cheaper
Petrol, Diesel prices drop by Rs 2 after excise duty cut
Cashew (Customs duty reduced from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent)
Solar tempered glass or solar tempered glass used for manufacture solar panels/modules
Raw materials, parts or accessories used in making cochlear implants
Select capital goods and electronics such as ball screws and linear motion guides
Healthcare
What's dearer
Cars and motorcycles
Mobile phones
Silver
Gold
Vegetable, fruit juices, including orange and cranberry
Sunglasses
Miscellaneous food preparations other than soya protein
Perfumes and toilet waters
Sunscreen, suntan, manicure, pedicure preparations
Preparations for oral dental hygiene, denture fixative pastes and powders; dental floss
Pre-shave, shaving or after-shave preparations,
Deodorants, bath preparations, depilatories, perfumery
Scent sprays and similar toilet sprays
Truck and Bus radial tyres
Silk Fabrics
Footwear
Coloured gemstones
Diamonds
Imitation jewelry
Smartwatches/wearable devices
LCD/ LED TV panels
Furniture
Mattresses
Lamps
Wristwatches, pocket watches, clocks
Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars, wheeled toys, dolls? carriages, dolls, toys, puzzles of all kinds
Video game consoles
Articles and equipment for sports or outdoor games, swimming pools and paddling pools
Cigarette and other lighters, candles
Kites
edible/vegetable oils such as olive oil, groundnut oil
In Pics: Union budget 2018 focuses on agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare reforms
While most of the salaried class had great hopes with the non-taxable income slab being raised to 3 lakh from the existing 2.5 lakhs, the govt decided otherwise to keep the rates unchanged. The only relief came by way of a standard deduction of Rs 40000 for the salaried class.
In his speech, Arun Jaitley said that the Budget 2018 would lay emphasis on agriculture and rural economy, health, infrastructure, senior citizens.
