New Delhi : Opposing the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, on Thursday, accused the Central Government of burdening citizens through repeated financial impositions, claiming that the Modi-led administration has consistently found "excuses" over the past 11 years to extract money from the public and expand the government treasury.
Speaking during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha, Tiwari alleged that the Centre was presenting its decisions as acts of goodwill. At the same time, in his view, the impact on the public remained adverse.
"From the past 11 years, when the Modi government came to power, PM Modi has kept finding some excuse or another to take money out of the public's pocket and fill it in the government treasury," he said.He further added, "I am afraid that the Bill intends that the entire money will not go to the state government and the foreign countries...It will only go to the Central government."
Raising concerns about the government's approach to increasing excise duty on tobacco products, Tiwari said the administration had remained silent on the issues faced by those dependent on tobacco cultivation.
He argued that imposing excise duty on tobacco and related products was not lowering prices but instead pushing them higher. "Imposing excise duty on tobacco and tobacco-related products is not decreasing the price; the price is increasing by imposing it," he noted.
The Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to revise excise duties on tobacco and related products after the expiry of the GST compensation cess. "This is not a new law. This is not an additional tax. This is not something that Centre is taking away," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her reply to the discussion on the Bill. She categorically said excise duty would be levied and not cess, clearing apprehensions of some members. "This is not a cess," she said.
The minister said that the revenue collected will go to the divisible pool and will be redistributed again (at 41%) to the States. "Many members here made the comment that this is a cess. Excise is not a cess. Excise duty existed before GST. Compensation cess is reverting back to the Centre to be collected as Excise duty, which will be redistributed to the States at the 41% allocated"Citing WHO report."
Shee said India did not revise specific cess rates even as the average retail prices of cigarettes rose at half the pace of nominal income growth. Many countries revise tobacco taxes annually, while many link it to inflation, she noted.
"Even in India, prior to GST, tobacco rates were increased annually. This was primarily due to health-related concerns, as higher prices or taxes were intended to act as a deterrent so that people would not get into the habit," she said.
The government is reinstating the excise duty that existed before the GST system, she said. The minister said that because of various initiatives taken by the government, acreage under tobacco cultivation of over 1.12 lakh acres (45,323 hectares) moved to other crops between 2018 and 2021-22. It has shifted to sugarcane, groundnut, oil palm, cotton, chilli, maize, onion, pulses, and turmeric, she said.
Sitharaman introduced two bills in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the first day of the Winter session of Parliament. She introduced the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, in Lok Sabha.