Presenting the General Budget 2011-12 here today, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister announced that full exemption from basic Customs Duty and a concessional rate of Central Excise Duty is proposed to be extended to batteries imported by manufacturers of electric vehicles.
A concessional Excise Duty of 10% has also been proposed to vehicles based on fuel cell technology and the Excise Duty on kits used for conversion of fossil fuel vehicles into hybrid vehicles has also been reduced.
The Excise Duty on LEDs is proposed to be reduced to 5% and special CVD being fully exempted and the basic Customs Duty on solar lantern is proposed to be reduced from 10 to 5%.
The budget has proposed full exemption from basic Customs Duty to crude palm stearin used in manufacturing of laundry soap and full exemption from basic Excise Duty granted to enzyme based preparation for pre-tanning.