Computers and mobile phones would cost less from Friday and air-travel would be cheaper, while the promoters of power project may have to spend less as a result of the government's tax incentives announced on Thursday amid talks of early general elections.
The biggest beneficiary of the cut in excise and custom duties -- in what is popularly being described by marketmen as mini-Budget -- are the consumers of electronic gadgets, including computers and laptops, as the government drastically reduced the duty as part of efforts to meet the challenge of nil duty by the year 2005, Communication and IT Minister Arun Shourie said.
Overjoyed by the cut in duty on cellular phones, the apex association of operators said that consumers would get a benefit of minimum of Rs 500 for purchase of new equipment, while domestic airlines announced to pass on the benefit of abolition of air travel tax.
The airline operators are also promising to assess the impact of halving of excise duty on aviation turbine fuel indicating that the benefits could be passed on to the travelers.
Apart from consumers, the industry and investors hailed the government decision saying that the tax incentives would further the feel good factor in tandem with high growth of economy and help attract investors both from the country and abroad.
They cited the example of cut in import duty on equipment for power projects as also the abolition of 4 per cent special additional customs duty along with reduction in peak custom duty from prevailing 25 per cent to 20 per cent.