Smokers Alert: Will Govt Raise Duty On Cigarettes & Bidis? Read Here

New Delhi: The government has informed that there is no proposal to raise the excise duty on cigarettes, bidis and smokeless tobacco.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur said there was no recommendation by the GST Council to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on these tobacco products.

The GST rates on goods are fixed on the basis of GST Council recommendations. At present, there is no such recommendation. Also, there is no proposal to increase the excise duty on such products,” Thakur said, Business Insider reported.

According to Finance Ministry data, the overall GST collection from these products, including cess, during Fiscal Year 2019-20 was Rs 53,540 crore and excise collection was Rs 1,610 crore. From July 2017,

Notably, the central excise duty collected on tobacco has been subsumed in the GST since July 2017.

Thakur further informed that the taxes collected from tobacco, similar to taxes collected from other sources, form a part of the overall Gross Tax Revenues (GTR) and are used to fund various government schemes and programmes.