Budget cuts Customs duty on slew of items, assures rationalisation of GST

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday tweaked the basic customs duty (BCD) on a slew of items such as mobile phones, gold, critical minerals, telecom equipment, marine products, among others, to give a leg up to domestic manufacturing and boost export competitiveness. At the same time the FM assured further rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST) regime.“My proposals for…