Image: A man smokes a cigarette as he sits on a pavement along a road in Srinagar. Photograph: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget in Parliament on Saturday.
Dining and drinking out, buying mineral water and aerated drinks, smoking and watching movies are set to become more expensive as the Finance Minister increased the service tax.
Continuing the trend set by his many predecessors, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday came down heavily on smokers and tobacco consumers with a steep increase in excise rate in tax proposals in Budget 2015-16.
While increase in service tax rate to 14 per cent would make a whole lot of things more expensive, he spared the common man from price hikes on many commonly used day-to-day items by keeping the duties unchanged.
Image: A woman carries shopping bags. Photograph: Vincent Kessler/Reuters
Image: A model displays jewellery during an exhibition in Chandigarh. Photograph: Ajay Verma/Reuters
Following is a list of what will be costlier:
- Cigarettes and other tobacco products
- Completely built imported commercial vehicles
- Cement
- Aerated, flavoured drinks and packaged water
- Plastic bags and sacks
- Business and executive class air travel
- Visit to amusement and theme park
- Music concerts
- Liquor
- Chit fund and lottery
- Gold and gold jewellery
Image: A man testing wine. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters
Image: A woman sells Coca Cola to a buyer. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Coca Cola
Image: Volkswagen Multivan TDI van. Photograph: OSX/Wikimedia Commons. Image is used for representational purpose only.
Those that would turn cheaper include leather footwear, locally made mobiles, computer tablets, microwave ovens, peanut butter, packaged fruits, ambulance service and agarbattis.
Image: Singapore Airlines flight attendants show off a new business class seat. Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters
Image: A tablet. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Following is a list of what is cheaper:
- Leather footwear priced above Rs 1,000 per pair
- Locally made mobile phones
- LED/LCD panels, LED lights and LED lamps
- Solar water heater
- Pacemakers, ambulance and ambulance services
- Computer tablets
- Agarbattis
- Microwave ovens
- Refrigerator compressors
- Peanut butter
- Packaged fruits and vegetables
- Visit to museum, zoo and national park.
Image: Packaged food. Photograph: Rediff Archives
Image: People watch a curved LED television. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters
Image: A man dressed as comic book character The Joker takes a selfie. Photograph: Edgard Garrido/Reuters. The image is used for representational purpose only
Image: A model displays a pair of designer shoes. Photograph: Javier Barbancho/Reuters. The image is used for representational purpose only
Budget 2015: Complete Coverage