'Revenue can rise by Rs 30K cr by regulating non-Virginia tobacco'

NEW DELHI: Government revenue collections can increase by Rs 30,000 crore through regulation of non-Virginia tobacco and these funds can be used by the government for Covid-19 relief efforts, according to the National Health Forum. NHF has written to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health for regulating the sale of non-Virginia tobacco by ensuring that the sale is processed through auction platforms.

NHF has said that the sale of non-Virginia be processed through auction platforms overseen by the Tobacco Board of India or via APMCs and taxing the non-Virginia tobacco at the same tax as the Virginia tobacco on per kilogram basis.

"The initiative will have a double benefit, first the enhancement of revenue and secondly controlling the sale of the so far unregulated tobacco products in India", NHF said.

National Health Forum (NHF), India's leading NGO working in the field of tobacco control and which has been involved in various key effective activities on tobacco control measures, lauded the efforts being made by the government in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Mandakini Sinh, Managing Trustee, NHF, "As per our estimates, a 30 per cent levy as a reverse charge levied upon and paid by the manufacturers and dealers of non-Virginia tobacco products will yield a revenue increment of around Rs 30,000 crore. This will lead to a far wider net of taxation and all types of tobaccos will be uniformly brought into the tax net. Currently, all tobacco products manufactured using non-Virginia tobacco (such as Burley tobacco) are in the unorganized sector and there is large scale evasion of tax by manufacturers and scant respect for the tobacco control laws." (IANS) 

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