Customs duty on cut, polished gems to be reduced to 5%

NEW DELHI: The Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds and gems to be reduced to 5%, said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.

Presenting the Union Budget 2022-23 in the Lok Sabha the Finance Minister said, “Customs duty on cut and polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to 5%.”

Sitharaman said that the state government employees’ tax deduction limit has been increased from 10% to 14%.

“To provide equal treatment to both Central and state government employees, tax deduction limit on employer’s contribution to National Pension System (NPS) account of State government employees to be increased from 10% to 14%, bringing them at par with central government employees,” Sitharaman said while presenting her fourth Union Budget in the Parliament today.

She said that at present, the Central government contributes 14% of the salary of its employee to the National Pension System (NPS) Tier 1 while such deduction is allowed only to the extent of 10% of the salary in case of employees of the state government.

Sitharaman said that this would help in enhancing the social security benefits of the state government employees.

Sitharaman began her presentation of Budget 2022 by expressing empathy with those who were affected by the adverse health and economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Finance Minister said that India’s economic growth in the current year is estimated to be 9.2%, the highest among all large economies. Before the presentation, a Union Cabinet meeting was held which approved the Budget 2022-23.

On Monday, she tabled this year’s Economic Survey, centred around the theme of “Agile approach”, which forecasted India’s economy to grow by 9.2% during Financial Year 2021-22 and by 8-8.5% in fiscal 2023 beginning 1 April. The budget session of Parliament began on Monday with the address by President Ram Nath Kovind to both Houses in the Central Hall.