The budget shows a discernible shift in the government’s strong support for developing a strong indigenous manufacturing production base, which was evident right through the coalition’s second term in office.

As compared to a set of policies that supported “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, the Finance Minister has signalled that this time around the government will pursue a more open-door policy. This follows a significant policy shift announced in the Economic Survey indicating that the government is shedding its antipathy towards China.

The Finance Minister has set in motion this policy of shifting focus towards China through her budget proposals.

This is most evident in the manner in which the customs duties have been rejigged.

The finance minister has proposed “reduction in customs duty to reduce input costs, deepen value addition, promote export competitiveness, correct inverted duty structure, boost domestic manufacturing”.

Chinese manufacturers have been offered the incentive to invest in India by procuring duty free, critical minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and vanadium, among others, used for the production of batteries.

The big announcement was reduction of import duty on mobile phones from 20 per cent to 15 per cent as the government feels that the Indian producers have matured.

The most significant policy decision was the removal of import duties on three critical anti-cancer drugs, namely, Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (Enhertu), Osimertinib and Durvalumab.

Removal of import duties will marginally reduce its price and will remain unaffordable to the common citizens. If the government is truly interested in delivering these medicines to the patients at lower prices, it must immediately issue compulsory licences to domestic manufacturers to produce these high priced medicines in India to have them delivered to patients at significantly lower prices.