NEW DELHI: Finance Minister on Saturday announced the removal of import duties on 12 critical minerals, lithium-ion batteries scrap, cobalt products, LED, and zinc.

She also proposed not to levy more than one cess or surcharge. She also proposed to exempt social welfare surcharge on 82 tariff lines that are subject to a cess, “I propose to fully exempt customs duties on 25 critical minerals and reduce BCD on two of them. This will provide a major fillip to the processing and refining of such minerals and help secure their availability for these strategic and important sectors.”