In an effort to control the swelling trade deficit, the government has increased import duty on luxury items . The duty has been imposed on 36 new products and it has been raised on 240 items.
The government raised the import duty on luxury items in the last budget as well. In the previous budget, the government increased duty on 565 articles.
This effort to impose import duty on luxury items has been made to support the exporters of the country. The added duty will help in providing cash subsidy to exporters. This will also help them clearing the dues they owe to the government. The following is the list of luxury items and other items on which duty has been increased.
Automobiles
15% duty has been imposed on import of new cars while on the other hand, regulatory duty has been increased to 80% on above 1800cc luxury cars.
Eatables
The items included in the list are whey powder (from 20% to 25%), grated or powdered cheese of all kinds, processed cheese (from 20% to 40%) and dry coconut (from 15% to 35%).
The duty on wheat and other types of wheat has been increased to 60% from 25%. On the other hand, potatoes, vegetables and mixtures of vegetables have seen a raise of 50% from 20%.
The duty on different types of juices and sauces have been increased to 50% from 20%
Cosmetics
The duty has been raised to 50% from 20% on cosmetics such as perfumes, make up products, and eye related solutions.
The regulatory duty has been raised to 40% from 20% on products from leather.
Ceramics
The duty has been raised to 40% from 20% on ceramics such as washbasin and other like materials.
The duty on glass beads and imitation pearls has been raised to 55% from 25%. The duty on LCD, LED and TVs has been raised to 40%. Furthermore, the import duty has been increased to 40% on metal furniture and woods.
Electronics
The duty has been raised from 20% to 40% on electronics like ACs and on its parts as well.
Sports Products
The regulatory duty has been raised to 50% from 20% on many sports products.
