Indian Union Budget 2023-24 LIVE: What's become cheaper & What's costlier? Check full list here

New Delhi, India

Indian Union Budget 2023-24 LIVE: What's cheaper, What's costlier? Today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Indian Union Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday, February 1. On January 31, the finance minister had presented the Economic Survey 2022-23 in Parliament. It was Nirmala Sitharaman's fifth Union Budget and the current government's last Union Budget before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. In the second part of her 2023 Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned the relief or increase of custom duties on some items. Mobile phone production in India saw a significant increase in the last financial year. Thus, the finance minister proposed a relief on customs duty on imports of certain parts of mobile phones, including camera lenses and lithium-ion cells. Similarly, television components will become cheaper, as per the Indian Union Budget 2023. 

Before we move towards the items that saw a price change in the Indian Union Budget 2023, let's take a look at today's highlights. 

Indian Union Budget 2023: Cheaper & Costlier Items

Here's the full list of items that got cheaper or costlier in Budget 2023-24. 

Highlights of Indian Union Budget 2023:

Finance Minister has called the Indian Union Budget 2023, the first budget of the Golden era.

The projected economic growth is 7%, the highest among the major economies. Moreover, the Union Budget 2023 has seven priorities including infrastructure and investment.

In the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman covered topics like agriculture, employment, green growth, youth and the financial sector. 

During the presentation of the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "The Indian economy has increased in size. It became the 5th largest from the 10th largest economy in the last nine years."

The finance minister urged the state governments to set up Unity Malls in their respective cultural hubs.

For the upcoming fiscal year, the government has laid a capital outlay of ₹2.4 lakh crore for Indian Railways, the highest ever for the department.

The fiscal deficit is 5.9 per cent of the GDP for 2023-24, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget speech.

Indian Union Budget 2023-24: What's costlier?

People have awaited the Union Budget 2023 as it directly impacts their daily lives. As the essential and non-essential items get cheaper or costlier, they affect the pockets of the common man. The rates of the items go up or down depending on the duty increases or decreases.

Gold, silver and platinum will become pricier. 

Compounded rubber will also become more expensive. 

Last but not the least is bad news for smokers. Cigarettes will become costlier, according to the Indian Union Budget 2023.

Indian Union Budget 2023-24: What's cheaper?

Electric kitchen chimneys will become costlier, and heat coils will become cheaper. Denatured ethyl alcohol will become cheaper to support ethanol blending and energy transitions. Moreover, the Indian Union Budget 2023 makes things easier for the domestic fluro-chemical industries.

Marine products, particularly shrimps, recorded the highest export growth in the last financial years and benefitted the farmers. Thus, the inputs for the domestic manufacturing of shrimps will become cheaper.

Diamond seeds used in the manufacturing of lab-grown diamonds will become cheaper to promote the diamond industry in India. During her Indian Union Budget 2023 speech, the finance minister said that lab-grown diamond industry holds 'great promise for the nation.'

Raw materials used in manufacturing CRGO steel, ferrous scrap, copper scraps and nickel cathode will become cheaper for promoting the industries.

Here's the full list of items that got cheaper & costlier in 2022: