Budget 2019: What Got Costlier And What Is Now Cheaper?

As with every budget announcement, changes were recommended on the tax front on a number of things at the Union Budget 2019. In line with the goernment's Digital India motive and in order to promote the use of electric vehicles, tax rates were changed.

What's Costlier?

• Petrol/Diesel: FM Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to increase special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each by 1 rupee a litre on petrol and diesel.
• Cash withdrawal: 2 percent TDS will be imposed on cash withdrawals of over Rs 1 crore in a year from a bank account.
• Gold and precious metals: Import duty on gold was increased to 12.5 percent from 10 percent.
• Imported auto parts
• CCTV cameras
• Imported ceramic roofing tiles
• Imported Marble slabs
• Imported optical fibre cable
• Imported books, newsprints
• Imported automobile parts
• Imported loud speakers
• Imported plastic
• Cigarettes
• Chewing tobacco
• Imported split AC
• Imported Cashews
• Imported Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and Network Video Recorder (NVR)
  

What's Cheaper?

• Digital transactions: To promote cash less economy, business establishments with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore will have to use BHIM, UPI, Aadhaar Pay, NEFT, RTGS modes of payments and not impose charges or merchant discount rates on customers or merchants. The RBI and banks will have to absorb these costs, FM said.
• Electric Vehicles: Envisioning India as a global hub of manufacturing electric vehicles, GST Council to reduce GST rate for Electric Vehicles to 5 percent from the earlier 12 percent. Rs 1.5 lakh income tax deduction was announced on interest paid on loans for purchase of electric vehicles.
• Imported defence equipment
• Raw material for artificial kidney (hemodialysis)
• Wool
• Electronic appliance parts