Many products such as cars, air tickets, cigarettes and even branded clothing will become more expensive from today. Apart from this you can also expect the prices of essentials such as food items including vegetables and other staples to increase.

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One reason for this is the imposition of Krishi Kalyan Cess or agriculture cess that was announced in the Budget to be implemented by June 1. The government has imposed a 0.5% cess and will raise the service tax to 15%.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also imposed upto 15% excise duty on all tobacco products.

This will increase the price of the following items:

  • Cars
  • Cigarettes and tobacco products
  • Eating at restaurants
  • Air travel
  • Bill payment services
  • Branded clothing and apparel above Rs 1,000
  • Gold and silver
  • Mineral water and cola or soft drinks
  • Aluminum foil
  • Goods and services above Rs 2 lakh in cash
  • Legal services
  • Lottery tickets
  • Hiring movers and packers
  • E-reading services
  • Industrial solar water heater
  • Instruments for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
  • Gold bars

Apart from this, petrol prices have been hiked by Rs 2.58 and diesel by Rs 2.26 per litre from Wednesday. This will significantly raise up transport costs for various essentials such as vegetables and staple food products.

With 9.2% hike on air turbine fuel (ATF) from June 1 will significantly increase air tickets as airlines are likely to pass it on to customers.