Union Budget 2026: What Gets Cheaper, What Gets Costlier, Full List That Hits Your Wallet

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026-27 with a sharp focus on bolstering domestic manufacturing and making essential healthcare more accessible. By rationaliSing the custom duty structure, the government aims to weed out long-standing exemptions on items now manufactured in India while providing relief to sectors like electronics, marine, and pharmaceuticals.

What Gets Cheaper?

The following items are expected to see a price drop due to reductions in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and other tax exemptions:

• Essential Medicines: 17 life-saving drugs, particularly those for treating diabetes and cancer, will become more affordable due to new customs duty relief.
• Mobile Phones: Prices are set to drop as the government provides relief on components and capital goods used in manufacturing.
• EV Batteries: BCD on Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells is exempt to drive the green energy transition.
• Leather & Textiles: Raw materials like Wet Blue leather and specified inputs for textiles are seeing duty cuts, making finished leather products and apparel cheaper.
• Marine Products: The duty-free import limit for inputs used in seafood processing (like shrimp feed) has been tripled from 1% to 3% of the FOB value.
• Sports Equipment: The Finance Minister specifically noted that sports goods will be more affordable to encourage athletic participation.

What Gets Costlier?

To promote the "Make in India" initiative, certain items will become more expensive as the government removes exemptions to protect local manufacturers:

• Items with Negligible Imports: Exemptions have been removed for goods where domestic production is now sufficient or where import volumes are too low to justify the tax break.
• Specific Industrial Goods: Certain customs tariff rates for industrial goods were adjusted to simplify the structure, which may lead to price increases for specific machinery and parts.
• Tobacco Products: Cigarettes, pan masala, and other tobacco products are set to become more expensive due to a hike in excise duty and health cess.

Key Export & Industry Boosts

Seafood & Textiles: By increasing the duty-free import limit to 3%, the government is lowering production costs for exporters, helping Indian seafood and textiles scale globally.

Leather Industry Flexibility: The time period allowed for the export of final products made from imported leather has been extended from 6 months to 1 year, providing significant operational relief to tanners and manufacturers.

Electronics: Beyond mobile phones, the focus remains on local value addition by keeping duties higher on finished goods while easing the burden on capital equipment for domestic production lines.

Union Budget 2026: What Gets Cheaper, What Gets Costlier