Budget: What's costlier, what's cheaper?

A man smoking

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

Wine

Image: A man testing wine. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

Coke

Image: A woman sells Coca Cola to a buyer. Photograph: Kind courtesy, Coca Cola

Volkswagen Multivan TDI van

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.

Singapore Airlines flight attendants show off a new business class seat.

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