Budget: What will become cheaper and what costlier this time around?

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What will be cheaper and what will become costlier this year when the Finance Minister presents the Budget in Parliament next year?

Every year, economists, analysts, industries and the common man track Budget announcements closely to gauge their possible impact on the prices of goods and services. In the Union Budget for 2023-24, for instance, the current administration where on one hand made items like TVs, smartphones and lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones cheaper, it rendered cigarettes, imitations jewellery, bicycles and air travel more expensive. 

As the country awaits the government's last Budget in Parliament before the country goes into general polls in April-May 2024, here's a lowdown on the impact of past Budget announcements on some of the key products and services impacting the common man:
 

Budget 2014-15: What got cheaper and what became costlier?

• Cheaper: Mobiles, computers, soaps, LCD TVs, diamonds, footwear
• Costlier: Cigarettes, Radio taxis, aerated drinks, imported electronic items, imported garments, non-IT telecom instruments
   

2015-16: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Certain minerals like bituminous coal, ulexite ore and chemicals like liquefied butane and butyl acrylate, wind power generators, solar water heater systems, wafers for making IC modules for smart cards, agarbattis, pacemakers, ambulances, leather footwear priced over Rs 1,000, imported LCD/LED TV panels, mobiles and tablets, leather footwear
• Costlier: Aerated water, iced tea, lemonade, mineral water and aerated drinks, condensed milk in containers, peanut butter, sacks and bags, cut tobacco, cigarettes, cement, import of CBUs for CVs, eating out, business class travel, financial services like ATM, demand draft and loan processing.
   

2016-17: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Footwear, solar lamps, routers, broadband modems, set top boxes, hybrid EVs, > affordable homes, digital video recorders, CCTV cameras, pension plans, microwave ovens, sanitary pads
• Costlier: Cars, cigarettes, cigar, tobacco, beedis, gutkha, bill payment service, eating out, air travel, readymade garments, gold, silver, mineral water, aerated water containing added sugar, goods and services above Rs 2 lakh in cash, aluminum foil, air travel, plastic bags and sacks, legal services, lottery tickets, e-reading devices, > imported golf cars
   

2017-18: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: LED lamps, solar panels, printed circuit boards for mobiles, micro ATMs, finger-print machines, iris, rail travel, import of solar tempered glass, import of fuel cell-based power generating systems, 
• Costlier: Silver coins, cigarettes, tobacco, bidis, pan masala, goods imported through parcels, water filter membranes, mobile phones, domestically-assembled LED lights, import of cashew nuts
   

2018-19: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Raw cashew nuts, solar tempered glass, cochlear implant raw material, parts or accessories, ball screws, linear motion guides
• Costlier: Cars, motorcycles, mobile phones, gold, silver, vegetable and fruit juices, sunglasses, perfumes, toilet waters, preparations for oral dental hygiene and denture fixative, truck and bus radial tyres, footwear, diamonds, imitation jewellery, mattresses, lamps, wrist watches, video game consoles, kites
   

2019-20: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Affordable houses, set top boxes, imported defence equipment, imported parts of EVs, camera modules, mobile phone chargers, imported raw material for making artificial kidneys, imported wool fiber, wool tops
• Costlier: Petrol, diesel, cash withdrawal over Rs 1 crore a year, fully-imported cars, split ACs, cigarettes, hookah and chewing tobacco products, imported auto parts, imported stainless steel products, imported gold and other precious metals, imported paper and paper products including printed books, imported plugs, sockets and switches, CTV cameras, loudspeakers
   

2020-21: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Raw sugar, skimmed milk, soya fibre, soya protein, certain alcoholic beverages, agro-animal based products, import of newsprint, lightweight and coated paper, purified terephthalic acid
• Costlier: Medical equipment, footwear, furniture, wall fans, cigarettes and other tobacco products, tableware/kitchenware made of porcelain, clay iron, steel, copper, CV parts
   

2021-22: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Gold, silver, leather products, nylon clothes, products made of iron, steel and copper 
• Costlier: Solar cells, mobile phones and chargers, imported gems and precious stones, imported AC and fridge compressors, imported auto parts 
   

2022-23: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: Imitation jewellery, computers, laptops, mobile phones, certain chemicals needed for petroleum refining, cut and polished diamonds, gems
• Costlier: Umbrellas, imported items, unblended fuel, chocolates, smartwatches and their earbuds, umbrellas
   

2023-24: What got cheaper and what costlier?

• Cheaper: TVs, smartphones, compressed gas, shrimp feed, lab-grown diamonds, machinery for manufacturing lithium-ion cells for EVs
• Costlier: Cigarettes, bicycyles, imitation jewellery, air travel, electric chimney, copper scrap, textiles