Price changes on key items announced; Mobile phones to be cheaper?
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced significant changes in customs duties in the Budget 2024, leading to price reductions for several key items. The budget includes major reductions in customs duty on cancer medicines and mobile phones, which will bring down their prices in the retail market. Additionally, imported gold, silver, leather goods, and seafood will also become cheaper.
"The government will exempt three more cancer treatment drugs from Customs duty. I will also reduce basic customs duty on mobile phones, chargers, and other mobile parts," Ms. Sitharaman said while presenting the budget in Parliament.
In a bid to boost retail demand and curtail smuggling, Ms. Sitharaman slashed import duties on gold and silver to 6%. This move is expected to stimulate retail demand and help reduce smuggling in India, the world's second-biggest bullion consumer. Higher demand for gold from India could support global prices, which hit a record high earlier this year. However, this might increase India's trade deficit and weigh on the ailing rupee.
On the other hand, the government will raise customs duty on ammonium nitrate by 10% and on non-biodegradable plastics by 25%.
This is the first budget of the Modi 3.0 government and is expected to have a significant impact on India's economic landscape, touching upon various sectors from infrastructure development to social welfare programs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that the Finance Minister would present a strong budget, ensuring that the government's guarantees reach the common man. On the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey.
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7 held for running fake call centre in South Kolkata
Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.
"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.
Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.
