Consumers will have to pay more for transportation as petrol and diesel will be costlier along with edible oil, but will be able to enjoy the luxury of cheaper cars, foreign liquor and air conditioners as a result of the 2003-04 Budget proposals announced by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday.

Singh proposed a 50 paise per litre cess on diesel and petrol to fund the National Highway Development Project while eight per cent excise duty has been imposed on branded refined edible oils, making all these items costlier.

Special Excise Duty has been halved to eight per cent on motor cars, air conditioners and their components, aerated soft drinks and their concentrates, making these cheaper.

Besides, toys, bicycles and their parts, kitchen articles including utensils, recorded audio CDs, umbrellas, pressure cookers, biscuits, boiled sweets and sugar confectionary are expected to cost less. Also, computer purchase could get cheaper with pre-loaded software being excluded from excise duty levy.

However, paper, cement and cement clinkers and a whole host of services could become more expensive soon. The FM has proposed an increase in the service tax rate from five per cent to eight besides brining a lot of services under the tax net.

Thus, coaching centres and commercial vocational institutes, customer care, internet cafe and banking services are likely to become costlier next fiscal.

PTI