Living on peanuts thanks to taxes? Here's a 'Mungphali' salad recipe for some post-Budget distraction

From the Budget 2020 announcement, it is clear that smoking cigarettes will not only be detrimental for your health, but will also burn a hole in your pocket.

The Government has hiked the excise duty on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Rest assured, you’ll have to shell out extra money if you wish to smoke. To put things in perspective, the excise duties and compensation cess has seen an increase of over 202 per cent since FY'12.

If you like all things trendy in your wardrobe and just can’t imagine an outfit without a good pair of shoes, you are in for a disappointment, especially if you are a fan of foreign brands like Yeezys, Skechers and Louboutins.

In an effort to level the playing field for domestic companies and manufacturers, the Finance Minister has announced an increase on customs duty on footwear.

So, the next time you go to buy a shiny new pair of kicks, you might end up spending more.

If you are planning to furnish your brand new house or add swanky pieces of furniture in your home-sweet-home, be prepared to spend more. Furniture items such as tables, chairs, beds are all set to get more expensive.

In order to boost the ‘Make In India’ initiative, the custom duty on furniture and tablewear has been hiked. Rest assured, those dinner table sets will definitely cost you more.

With the advent of summers, all of us rely on air conditioners for beating the summer heat. But, it turns out, that even wall fans will now cost us a huge amount of money.

The custom duty on wall fans has skyrocketed and witnessed a huge jump from 7.5 per cent to 20 per cent. So, if you are relying on wall fans to beat the summer heat, you might have to look for another alternative.

Furnishing the house will get difficult for more reasons than one. In addition to hiking the customs duty on furniture and tablewear, the customs duty on kitchenwear made of porcelain or China ceramic, clay iron, steel, copper has been doubled to 20%.

With utensils set to get more expensive, your next meal might not taste as delicious.

If you like reading magazines or love to get your news from international newspapers like the the Washington Post, you are in for a treat. The Finance Minister has halved the customs duty on import of newsprint, light weight coated paper to 5%.

You can now peruse and devour all your favourite columns from international magazines without burning a hole in your pocket.

All of us have a sweet tooth and it turns out that the Finance Minister wants us to have all our favourite desserts till we are content.

The custom duty on raw sugar has been withdrawn. Now, all our favourite mithais will taste sweeter than ever before.

If you love a hot cuppa coffee or a hot cup of chai, but are very particular about the amount of calories you consume, you can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Sitharaman has withdrawn the custom duty on skimmed milk. It turns out that you will now be able to have low-fat milk at a cheaper price.

The Finance Minister applied health cess on the import of medical equipment which means that going for a simple X-Ray, ECG or even a blood pressure check will cost you more.