The ₹10 hike in the support price for rubber along with measures for additional resource mobilisation announced in the State Budget will kick in from April 1.
Presenting the 2024-25 State Budget in February, Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal had also announced a slew of revisions for judicial court fees and tax cuts on buses with all-India tourist permits. The per kilogram support price of rubber will go up from ₹170 to ₹180.
Through the hike in judicial court fees, the government hopes to rake in an additional ₹50 crore. The revisions included a hike in the fee for petitions in family courts depending on the value of the subject matter in dispute. A second revision was related to offences under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The Budget also envisaged a tax cut for all-India permit buses so as to encourage more registrations in Kerala. As per this decision, the tax for all-India tourist buses with ordinary seats will come down from ₹2,250 per seat to ₹1,500. For those sporting push-back seats and sleeper berths, it will dip from ₹3,000 per seat to ₹2,000 and ₹4,000 per berth to ₹3,000.
Meanwhile, the government is yet to take a decision regarding the 5% annual increase in water tariffs that are tied to the State’s additional borrowing and reforms in the sector, sources in the Water Resources department said.
