Consumption of beedis higher than cigarettes: Nadda

The consumption of beedis is higher than that of cigarettes in the age group of 15 years and above, Health Minister J.P. Nadda told parliament Friday.

However, the government does not have any plans of changing the tax structure to curb its consumption, he told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) "Technical Manual on Tax Administrationa" (2010) has recommended that tobacco excise taxes should account for at least 70 percent of the retail prices for tobacco products.

Nadda said as per the information received from the finance ministry, there is no proposal under consideration as of now to introduce a uniform taxation structure on cigarettes which covers all lengths and does not allow for product substitution of higher taxed cigarette lengths with lower taxed cigarette lengths.