Considering rising dumping of steel into India, steel sector seeks hike in customs duty on steel and steel products from 5% to 15%, and hike export duty on iron ore.
Sitharaman in her budget speech said that the customs proposal "aim to further simplify the tariff structure, support domestic manufacturing, promote export competitiveness, and correct inversion in duty".
Excise duty at 4% should be imposed on man-made fibres, POY and filament yarns.
The revised duty will come into effect from midnight on February 24.
Indian Customs officials have arrested five individuals from West Bengal and Assam for their involvement in smuggling high-end used cars from Bhutan. The investigation revealed a widespread network of forged documents and illegal vehicle registrations.
Maruti Suzuki India's CFO, Arnab Roy, has urged the central government to introduce an amnesty scheme or an 'as-is' settlement option to resolve past indirect tax disputes, aiming to clear legacy litigation and foster growth in the automotive industry. Roy emphasised the need for a 'smarter way to address the past' to provide long-term certainty for businesses.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) is advocating for the termination of the moratorium on customs duties for electronically transmitted digital products, arguing that it hinders self-reliance, causes revenue losses, and restricts India's ability to tax emerging technologies like AI.
Total pending Customs arrears, including amounts under litigation, court stays and cases where the appeal period has not expired, stood at about Rs 1.36 trillion at the end of December 2024.
The Indian government has marginally exceeded its indirect tax collection target for fiscal year 2025-26, with strong performances in customs, excise, and GST revenues.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) anticipates disbursing approximately 4,700 crore in incentives under the automotive PLI scheme in FY27, more than double the previous two years, while also exploring financing mechanisms for electric buses and trucks and promoting domestic manufacturing of critical EV components.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director, Rahul Navin, has issued directives to intensify action against Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) frauds involving "large haircuts" and to address delays in police registering FIRs based on ED's requests. The agency also aims to fast-track high-profile trials under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and enhance internal coordination and efficiency.
The Customs department seized gold worth Rs 3.15 crore from two passengers at Mumbai airport, including a finance professional smuggling gold due to US-Iran conflict concerns.
As many as 17 cancer drugs, along with medicines and food for special medical needs for seven rare diseases, components for microwave ovens are some of the items that are set to become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in customs duty in the Union Budget 2026-27.
A Nigerian national was arrested in Delhi by the Uttar Pradesh STF for allegedly creating fake profiles of US and UK citizens on social media and cheating victims on the pretext of sending expensive gifts and foreign currency.
'...in which our names are written with our phone numbers.'
The White House has launched a major crackdown on the 'Great Transhipment Scam', accusing India and over 40 other nations of helping Chinese exporters bypass US tariffs by misrepresenting the origin of goods. The US plans to use AI-driven monitoring and anti-transhipment clauses in future trade agreements to strengthen enforcement.
Customs officials at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport have thwarted two separate gold smuggling attempts, seizing over 3.17 kg of gold worth approximately Rs 4.35 crore and arresting three foreign nationals.
The government has forgone Rs 6,300 crore (Rs 63 billion) through cuts in customs duties announced since June 2006 to bring relief to the common man from high inflation, which stood at 4.80 per cent for the week ended June 2.
A 76-year-old man in Belagavi was allegedly cheated of Rs 7.9 lakh in an online investment scam that used an AI-generated deepfake video misusing the name of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to lure investors.
'All these reports and announcements by the US seem like attempts to gain a lever in trade deal negotiations with India.'
The Supreme Court of India has emphasised that a husband's obligation to maintain his wife is a primary and continuing duty, ensuring she lives with dignity and in a manner commensurate with her marital status.
Industry experts are demanding a change in the inverted duty structures this Budget to boost domestic industries.
That means making it easier to invest, protecting investors through predictable rules, and avoiding policy reversals after investments have been made, notes Rajeswari Sengupta.
German carmaker Audi plans to reassess and adjust its product launch strategy in India once the specific details of import duty reductions under the India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) become clear, according to Balbir Singh Dhillon, the brand's director in India.
For patients, the immediate impact is a reduction in the final cost of therapies that often run into lakhs per month.
Apple Inc, which had planned to shift only 10 per cent of its global production base from China to India with respect to iPhones at the end of FY26, is currently churning out one out of every four iPhones in the world from India.
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
India has capped gold imports under the Advance Authorisation scheme at 100 kg, a day after significantly increasing import duties on precious metals. This move aims to tighten conditions for duty-free gold imports by jewellery exporters and curb non-essential imports amidst a ballooning import bill.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has proposed a 20-point policy agenda to the finance ministry, including a conflict-linked emergency credit line guarantee scheme and tax rationalisation on energy inputs, to support MSMEs, exporters, and energy-intensive industries affected by the ongoing West Asia war.
Under an Executive Order issued by the US administration on July 30, 2025, goods valued above USD 100 will be subject to customs duties in America with effect from August 29 onwards.
Despite a sharp increase in import duties on gold and silver to 15 per cent, the precious metals are trading at significant discounts in the domestic market, with gold seeing discounts of up to $200 an ounce and silver up to $6 an ounce.
ITC reported a 16.2 per cent year-on-year drop in consolidated net profit to 4,394.13 crore in Q1 FY27, primarily due to a significant increase in taxes on its cigarette business. Consolidated net revenues also declined by 11.1 per cent to 19,114 crore, missing analyst estimates.
Despite deregulation of petrol prices and a hike in retail prices of other regulated fuels in June 2010, oil marketing companies continue to incur.
The economy is in desperate need of a policy boost from the Indian Government for its revival. Infrastructure will be the focus area in this year's upcoming budget.
Decorative paints constitute over 75% of the overall paint market in India.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced the removal of import duties on 12 critical minerals, lithium-ion batteries scrap, cobalt products, LED, zinc and 36 drugs for cancer and rare diseases.
'Unfortunately, today most ministers are busy with either election duty or praising duty. They are not interested in serving duty.' 'Ministers have become relaxed like retired people still holding onto jobs.' 'Look at how the NEET paper leaked. But there is no accountability.' 'After 12 years, they have become saturated. They are short of ideas.'
India has revised its proposal to impose retaliatory duties under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms against the US over American tariffs on steel and aluminium in view of the further hike in duty by the Trump administration. The US first imposed 25 per cent tariffs on imports of aluminium, steel and derivative articles on March 12.
