Industry experts said on Thursday that as Union Budget 2025 approaches, the government should consider levying customs duties on broader categories of industry to reduce tax rates, news agency PTI reported.
“The government may come up with different slabs for various products depending on where they are placed in the value chain. Goods may be categorised as Value added/primary and raw material/Intermediary and accordingly slab rates may be fixed,” as per the reports.
Budget 2025: What did the previous budget say?
In the previous budget announced in July 2024, a comprehensive review of the Customs Duty rate structure will be carried out in the next six months to trade, remove duty inversion and lessen disputes simply. Presently, there are over a dozen custom duty rates as the government looks to reduce the number of tax slabs.
Budget 2025: What experts say?
The Industry experts said that the current low 15 per cent tax on new companies should be extended to existing companies, helping them expand their manufacturing capabilities. He said that the 15 per cent tax on new manufacturing companies, introduced in 2019, must be extended.
“There is a demand that the new regime should be extended to allow existing companies setting up new manufacturing units to take advantage of the effective tax of 17.5 per cent (15 per cent plus cess and surcharge),” he told PTI.
Budget 2025 date: When will the budget be announced?
The Union Budget for 2025-26 is scheduled to be presented in the Parliament on February 1.
The Finance Minister is expected to present the Union Budget 2025 on February 1, 2025, at 11 a.m. However, there has been no official confirmation from the government. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will most likely announce the second full-fledged budget of the Modi 3.0 government on the first day of next month.
Sitharaman will present her eighth budget in 2025. Prior to this, she has presented six annual and two interim budgets.
