Indian government asked to spread tax burden

Ahead of the 2015 budget, the Tobacco Institute of India has been calling on the country’s government to widen the tax base to include all tobacco products, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

The budget is due to be presented to the Indian parliament by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on February 28.

The Institute said that licit cigarettes accounted for only 12 percent of the tobacco products consumed in India.

And it said that levying excessive taxes on cigarettes had led to a double digit drop in licit cigarette volumes between July-December 2013 and July-December 2014.

Including other tobacco products in the tax net would help the government tap into new revenue sources.

It would also assist with the government’s tobacco control objectives.