New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget 2026 speech, announced a series of customs duty changes aimed at easing input costs, improving export competitiveness, and rationalizing the tariff structure across sectors.

Presenting the Union Budget 2026-27, Sitharaman said the government would raise the limit for duty-free imports of specified inputs used for processing seafood exports from the current 1% to 3% of the free-on-board (FOB) value of the previous year's export turnover-a move expected to provide relief to marine exporters facing rising input costs.

She announced an expansion of the duty-free import facility for the leather and footwear sector, too. The benefit, previously available for exports...