More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Mar. 27, 2025

--Parliament passes Budget, Rajya Sabha returns Finance Bill, 2025 

NEW DELHI – Parliament on Thursday passed the Budget for the next financial year starting Tuesday, with the Rajya Sabha returning the Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill after discussions which pushed the Upper House to extend business hours by over an hour and a half. The Lok Sabha on Tuesday had passed the Finance Bill, 2025 by a voice vote after two days of discussions, while the Appropriation Bill was passed on Friday.  

The Finance Bill, 2025 contains the tax changes and amendments to legislation proposed in the Budget, along with 35 amendments. 

The Union Budget for FY26 announced a host of tax changes, the most important being the government's decision to raise income tax rebate to effectively mean that income of up to INR 1.2 million will not be taxed. "The new structure will substantially reduce the taxes of the middle class and leave more money in their hands, boosting household consumption, savings and investment," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said presenting the Budget. The revised tax structure will lead to the government foregoing revenue to the tune of INR 1 trillion per year. Sitharaman had also announced tweaks to the new income tax slabs to give relief to taxpayers. 

On the indirect taxes side as well, the Budget proposed many changes, including lowering the number of customs duty tariff rates to eight from the current 15. The government also announced it would levy only one cess or surcharge on tariff lines subject to cess.

In the Rajya Sabha, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said earlier in the day that the Indian government reduced tariffs on high-end motorcycles under pressure from US President Donald Trump and demanded a statement on the preparations to deal with US reciprocal tariffs, set to come into effect on Apr. 2. "Is the reduction of tariffs a policy change? I think it's the Trump effect that forced the government to reduce tariffs," Chidambaram said.

Responding to this, Sitharaman said that the current government's efforts to rationalise the customs duty structure while also lowering tariff rates is to empower domestic industry and is independant of the current global scenario. "We have been doing this for last few Budgets, it is not because of any recent global development," she said. 

President Trump has expressed his displeasure over India's high tariffs in multiple instances. As such, the US administration is set to impose reciprocal tariffs on all nations, including India, from Wednesday based on the tariff and non-tariff barriers charged on US goods. New Delhi, on other hand, is trying to safeguard Indian exports from reciprocal tariffs through a trade deal. The Indian government is counting on a multi-sectoral bilateral trade agreement, proposed in February.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after the Finance Bill was returned to the Lok Sabha.  End

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.