Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government has made significant progress in rationalising customs tariffs and will continue with the exercise, indicating that the process will continue in Budget 2027-28.
There has been progress. By Budget 2027-28, barring 13 items, we will have rationalised tariffs. They will come down to single digits, and we will keep it up,” Sitharaman said at the C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi.
The remarks reaffirm the government’s commitment to simplifying India’s customs duty structure, an exercise that has gathered pace over the past few Union Budgets. The Centre has been rationalising cu…
The finance minister’s comments indicate that the tariff rationalisation exercise will continue over the next year, with the government aiming to further streamline the customs duty framework. However, Sitharaman did not elaborate on what the 13 items referred to.
“The government has progressively rationalised Basic Customs Duty rates across a wide range of products over the past few Budgets. Duty reductions have been targeted at some of the key raw materials and specified capital goods,
reinforcing the Government’s Make in India agenda,” Mahesh Jaising, Partner, Deloitte, told Moneycontrol.
