‘Next big clean-up’: FM Sitharaman flags customs simplification; hints at duty rationalisation in Budget

Ahead of Budget 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said simplifying India’s customs framework will be the government’s next major reform focus, signalling a comprehensive clean-up aimed at making compliance easier and more transparent.Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, Sitharaman said customs reforms would follow the rationalisation efforts already undertaken in income tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST) to boost consumption by leaving more cash in the hands of consumers, PTI reported.“We need a complete overhaul of customs… we need to have customs simplified for people to feel that it is not cumbersome to comply… need to make it more transparent,” the finance minister said.She said the government intends to bring the same virtues of transparency and ease that guided income-tax reforms to the customs regime, adding that the proposed changes would include further rationalisation of customs duty rates.The finance minister indicated that announcements to this effect may be made in the Union Budget, likely to be presented on February 1.“We have brought down customs duty over the last two years steadily. But in those few items where our rates are considered to be over the optimal level, we have to bring them down as well. Customs is my next big cleaning-up assignment,” she said.In this year’s Budget, the government proposed eliminating seven additional customs tariff rates on industrial goods, following the removal of seven tariff slabs in 2023-24. This reduced the total number of customs tariff slabs to eight, including a zero rate.On the rupee’s sharp depreciation, Sitharaman said the currency would find its natural level. The rupee has weakened about 5 per cent against the US dollar during calendar year 2025.The currency breached the 90-per-dollar mark for the first time earlier this week, settling at a provisional all-time low of 90.21 amid sustained foreign fund outflows and elevated crude oil prices, PTI noted.On economic growth, Sitharaman expressed confidence that India’s GDP expansion would remain at 7 per cent or above in the current financial year.The Indian economy grew at a six-quarter high of 8.2 per cent in the July-September quarter, aided by stronger factory output and robust services-sector performance, offsetting a slowdown in farm output. Growth stood at 7.8 per cent in the preceding quarter and 5.6 per cent a year earlier.For the first half of the financial year ended September, India clocked GDP growth of 8 per cent.