Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill 2025 on March 25 incorporating 35 Government amendments as a key part of the process for the proposals of Union Budget 2025-26 to kick in, reported IANS.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her reply to the debate on the Bill, said the Union Budget of 2025-26 provides “unprecedented tax relief to honour taxpayers” and is aimed at boosting domestic production and enhancing export competitiveness.
She highlighted the changes aimed at tariff rationalisation and boosting domestic manufacturing in her discussion of the Finance Bill. She said that the Customs Duty rationalisation announced in the Budget proposals for 2025- 26 was moving forward.
The Finance Minister said that the Government is removing seven customs tariff rates to address duty inversion and lower input costs and the Finance Bill now ensures that imports will attract either a cess or a surcharge, but not both.
In order to give a fillip to domestic production, the Government has exempted 35 additional capital goods for EV batteries and 28 for mobile manufacturing from customs duties. With the Budget now approved by the Lok Sabha, it will be taken up for discussion by the Rajya Sabha.
