Budget: What may become cheaper, what could be dearer

NEW DELHI - A look at what items can become cheaper and what could become dearer on account of the budget proposals on excise and customs presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday:

Cheaper–

- Automobiles (Hybrid electrical vehicles, compressed natural gas kits)

- Low-end housing loans

- Diapers and sanitary napkins

- Homeopathic medicines

- Agarbatti

- Pistachio

- Solar lantern

- Light emmitting diode (LED) lights

- Raw silk materials

- Syringes and needles

- Ink jet, laser jet printers

- Agricultural machinery, irrigation equipment, cattle feed

Costlier–

- Treatment in airconditioned private hospitals

- Meals at restaurants serving liquor

- Hotels charging more than Rs.1,000 per room per day

- Legal services

- Air tickets

- Branded jewellery

- Branded clothes

No change–

- Cigarettes

- Consumer durables like TV, fridge, washing machines etc