Impact on cigarette to be neutral under GST regime

No change seen in demand-consumption structure or price once GST is rolled out

Neither the demand-consumption structure nor the price is likely to change for cigarettes, though it has been put in the highest 28 per cent duty slab in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, with an additional five per cent compensational cess and another of varying degree.
 
Currently, say sector analysts, the applicable average net value added tax (VAT) is 64 per cent. Under GST, cigarettes will be paying 28 per cent and an additional five per cent. Added to which is another complex structure, depending on the length of a cigarette. At the end of the calculation, “the