New Delhi, March 27 -- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said that reduction in basic customs duty announced by the government in the recent past has been a continuous process aimed at improving self-reliance and for the country's development, and not in response to the reciprocal tariffs that the US government said will impose.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha in response to the discussion on Finance Bill 2025, Sitharaman said that India's tariff changes were meant for realising India's aspirations in the manufacturing sector.

The minister said that the customs rate structure announced in the July 2024 budget was followed up in this year's budget. The minister said that as a result of two tranches of rationalisation, the number of...