Excise duty on petrol driven trucks/lorries reduced

EXCISE DUTY ON BRANDED JEWELLERY REDUCED TO NIL 

GENERAL BUDGET – 2009-10 

Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister, has announced the reduction of excise duty applicable to large cars / utility vehicles of engine capacity of 2000 cc and above from Rs.20,000 per vehicle to Rs.15,000 per vehicle. The excise duty on petrol driven trucks/lorries has been reduced from 20% to 8%, while on chassis of such trucks/lorries, the reduction is from ‘20% + Rs.10000’ to ‘8% + Rs.10000’. 

He has further reduced the excise duty on Special Boiling Point spirits to 14% and on naptha to 14%. Duty paid high speed diesel blended with up to 20% bio-diesel has also been fully exempted from excise duties. 

The excise duty exemption on ‘recorded smart cards’ and ‘recorded proximity cards and tags’ has been made optional. The manufacturers will have the option to pay the applicable excise duty and avail the credit of duty paid on inputs. 

The Minister while presenting the Budget, has extended the benefit of SSI exemption scheme to printed laminated rolls bearing the brand name of others by excluding this item from the purview of the brand name restriction. 

On packaged or canned software, the excise duty exemption has been provided on the portion of the value which represents the consideration for transfer of the right to use such software, subject to specified conditions. 

The excise duty on branded articles of jewellery has also been reduced from 2% to NIL.