Budget 2023: Smoking To Be Costlier, Phones & Laptops To Become Cheaper

Union Budget 2023: What gets cheaper, what gets costlier? Here's the list.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, 1 February, presented the 2023-24 Union Budget.

(Photo: The Quint)

(Got questions about Union Budget 2023? Join our exclusive discussion with Raghav Bahl on 3 February – and get them answered. Become a member to get your invite.)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, 1 February, presented the Union Budget 2023-24. This was the last full-fledged budget of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Sitharaman, in her speech, detailed items which are set to be cheaper and those which will be more expensive for consumers.

(The interactive on What's Cheaper and What's Costlier will load below. Please wait for a couple of seconds if it hasn't loaded yet on your screen.)

What's Getting Cheaper?

• Camera lenses for phones, laptops, and DSLRs

• Parts of TV panels

• Lithium ion batteries

• Denatured ethyl alcohol

• Domestic manufacturing of shrimp

• Seeds used in the manufacture of diamonds

While the customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels has been cut to 2.5 percent, the government also announced a reduction of duty on the import of certain inputs for mobile phone manufacturing.

The custom duty on shrimp feed was also reduced to promote exports.

Things Set To Be Costlier

• Articles made of gold and platinum

• Articles made of silver

• Copper scrap

• Compounded rubber

• Cigarettes

• Imported electric kitchen chimney

The finance minister announced that the taxes on cigarettes will be hiked by 16 percent and the import duty on compounded rubber will go up to 25 percent from 10 percent.

The budget session of the Parliament began on Tuesday, 31 January, with the president's address, followed by tabling of the Economic Survey for the year 2022-23.