Government Simplifies Customs Duty Rules from November 1, 2025

In an effort to make the Customs Duty rules easy and simplified, the government has made a few changes in the customs notification. The GST policy wing of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued a notification on 24th October 2025.

The customs duty rates in India are currently levied through the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 or using the exemption notification issued under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act, which gives authority to the Central Government to give partial or full exemptions. The notification used for many years was Notification No. 50/2017-Customs (dated 30 June 2017). Apart from that, several other notifications were also issued over the years for special cases.

To make the rules easier for traders and importers, the government has now merged all 30 notifications into one notification, i.e., Notification No. 45/2025-Customs dated October 24, 2025. This new notification replaces the Notification No. 50/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017, and the other 30 notifications. These changes are applicable from November 1, 2025.

Now the rules regarding the customs duty are available in one single updated notification. The GST policy wing made it clear that there are only minor changes. These include the minor modification in S. No. 5 of Notification 39/96-Customs dated 23.7.1996, and the removal of entry no. 166A of Notification No. 50/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017.

The consequential changes are notified as follows: