The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley while presenting the General Budget 2017-18 in Parliament today announced substantial relief in Customs and Excise Duties for Renewable Energy Sector and for manufacture of Cashless Transaction Devices.

In a bid to incentivize domestic value addition under Make in India initiative of the Government, the Finance Minister has proposed to reduce Customs and Excise duties on several items related to the Renewable Energy Sector. This includes all items of machinery required for - fuel based power generating system to be set up in the country for demonstration purposes; systems operating on biogas/ biomethane/ byproduct Hydrogen; LED lights or fixtures etc.

The Finance Minister has proposed zero Customs and Excise duties on certain items related to cashless transaction devices to promote domestic manufacturing of these products.

Proposals for reduction in Customs duty on inputs and raw materials to reduce costs and for incentivizing domestic value addition under Make in India have been submitted for certain items like Liquefied Natural Gas, Nickel, Vegetable Tanning Extracts and certain Capital Goods.

Proposal to hike Excise duties and to levy additional duties under Sec 85 of the Finance Act, 2005 on several tobacco and tobacco related products have also been made in the Budget.

Customs and excise duty reductions for renewable energy to incentivize domestic manufacturing under Make in India. Proposals reduce customs and excise duties to incentivize domestic manufacturing under the Make in India initiative for machinery and components used in renewable energy systems (including demonstration fuel-based systems, biogas/biomethane/byproduct hydrogen systems, and LED fixtures) and to zero-rate certain items for cashless transaction device manufacture; separate proposals reduce duties on selected inputs and raw materials to encourage value addition, while increases in excise duties and additional levies on tobacco products are also proposed.