NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that she will focus on lowering customs tariffs in the next budget, following up on a promise she had made after rationalising GST last year.“Yes, there is progress being made, may be by budget of 2027-28, I would be able to say that barring a few items, it will come down to single digits. Even now, barring 13 items we had rationalised it,” she said after delivering the CD Deshmukh Memorial Lecture organised by NCAER.In the last few budgets, customs duty simplification has been a focus area, with fewer slabs and correction of the inverted duty structure, where tariff on a product is lower than an input in the value chain.The minister also said the Centre’s capital expenditure push since Covid has boosted the private sector’s confidence in the economy, encouraging them to take risks and invest. Sitharaman said there should be a conscious effort to ensure that states borrow only as much money for asset creation as they can service and not leave the debt for the next generation to repay. At the same time, she said, states are working to put their “house in order”.“There are several states today who are conscious of what their debts are… I have had conversations … saying that borrowings have been made some time ago, can we sustain them or not? (A few states) had conversations with the team in the ministry (who) helped them restructure their debts. I am glad to do this, as long as states realise that debt, otherwise, is not a thing that you engage in and forget about it. You cannot leave it unattended,” she said.Responding to a query on the public debt, she said acquiring debt is necessary as no country can run on its own resources. However, one needs to take a call on the magnitude and purpose of borrowing.
