Centre Hikes Import Duties on 19 Items: ACs, Refrigerators, TV, Speakers Price to Rise; Air Fares to Go Up
The duty on aviation turbine fuel has also been hiked by 5 per cent, which is expected to drive up the air fares. The hike will come into effect from today midnight.
New Delhi, Sept 26: In a measure to address the widening of current account deficit, the central government on Wednesday announced a hike in import duties on 19 items, including air-conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and speakers, among others.
The duty on aviation turbine fuel has also been hiked by 5 per cent, which is expected to drive up the air fares. The hike will come into effect from today midnight. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Announces Measures To Cut Current Account Deficit.
The total value of imports of these 19 items, whose custom duties have been hiked, was about Rs 86000 crore in the year 2017-18.
Aviation experts have marked dissent over the hike on turbine fuel, calling it a major blow to the domestic carriers. "5 per cent customs duty on ATF will be a negative impact on the sector as input cost borne by the carriers will increase. However with the peak season kicking in, we are likely to see increase in prices and strong loads as well," said harat Dhall, B2C, COO, Yatra.com.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry had indicated in the past week that it would adopt stern measures towards addressing the current account deficit, which has widened to 2.4 per cent of the GDP in April-June quarter due to surging fuel prices.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 26, 2018 08:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).