Customs duty reduced for several items; no change in peak rates

New Delhi, Feb 29 (UNI) No change has been effected in the peak rate of customs duty in the General Budget 2008-09.

Customs duty has been reduced for certain industries with a view to provide a fillip or to remove anomalies, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said while presenting the General Budget 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha today.

Customs duty on project imports has been reduced from 7.5 per cent to five per cent. However, a special CVD of four per cent would be imposed on some specified projects in the power sector.

The duty on steel melting scrap and aluminium scrap was reduced to nil from five per cent, the Minister said, adding that specified parts of Set Top Boxes and specified raw materials for using IT/Electronic industry have been fully exempted from customs duty.

The duty on convergence products has been lowered to five per cent from 10 per cent.

Customs duty on certain specified life saving drugs has also been brought down from 10 per cent to five per cent, while bulk drugs used for manufacture of such drugs have been totally exempted from customs duty or countervailing duty.

In order to conserve chrome ore and make it available for value-added manufacture in India, export duty on this item has been raised to Rs 3,000 per MT from Rs 2,000 per MT.

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