According to The Economic Times article published on February 1, 2023, with promotion of exports and enhancement of domestic manufacturing in focus, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a rejig in custom duties on various commodities and products.
The concessional duty on the import of lithium-ion batteries has been extended for a year.
The customs duties on dore and bars of gold and platinum were increased earlier this fiscal. FM proposed to increase the duties on articles made therefrom to enhance the duty differential. "I also propose to increase the import duty on silver dore, bars and articles to align them with that on gold and platinum," she said.
The basic customs duty rate on compounded rubber will be increased from 10% to 25% or Rs 30/kg, whichever is lower, on par with that on natural rubber other than latex, to curb circumvention of duty.
FM Sitharaman proposed a reduction in the number of customs duty rates on goods except textiles, from 21 to 13. As a result, there are minor changes in cess and levies on products such as toys, naphtha and automobiles, she said.
To rectify the inversion of duty structure and encourage the manufacture of electric kitchen chimneys, the import duty is being raised from 7.5% to 15%, while that on chimneys' heat coil is being reduced from 20% to 15%.
The government also proposed to reduce customs duty on the import of certain inputs for mobile phone manufacturing. Customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels cut to 2.5%.
