The government has no plans to increase central excise duty on cigarettes, bidis and smokeless tobacco, Parliament was informed on Monday.

“The GST rates on goods, including compensation cess rates are fixed on the basis of the recommendations of the GST Council. As regards central excise duty, there is no proposal to increase duty at present,” Anurag Thakur, minister of state for finance, informed the Lok Sabha in a question.

The total tax collected under central excise and cess for Tobacco Products have increased from Rs 1,234 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 1,610 crore in 2019-20.