Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 12: Orissa has seen a sharp rise in illicit trade in last couple of years which has caused losses amounting to more than hundreds of crore to the public exchequer, a report by Federation of Indian Chambers for Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said. “Orissa had witnessed significant growth in illicit trade in last couple of years. It is one of the fastest growing markets for illegal cigarettes and alcohol in the country,” Adviser FICCI CASCADE (Committee against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy), PC Jha said.
Elaborating on growing illicit trade, Jha said illegal cigarette industry is estimated at more than 20 per cent of the total market in the state. “The supply of legal cigarettes shows a decline as illegal players have taken over this market and is growing at a higher pace,” he added.
“In case of alcohol, the illegal market is growing significantly in value and much higher in quantity especially for IMFL and imported liquor,” Jha said adding the two sectors are amounting to more than hundreds of crore losses to the state government.
Giving reasons for this growth of illicit trade, Jha said high state-level taxes on legal cigarette industry is the reason for penetration of low-priced illegal cigarettes from the other states. “Price of illegal cigarette pack in Orissa like “Kartoos” is one fifth of the price of a legal pack, which makes the former very attractive to consumers,” Jha said.
He also said the committee had conducted 19 state level seminars to create awareness through various initiatives across the country but the effective step can only be taken at the consumer level by asking for bill on every purchase of goods. Such step can reduce counterfeit by more than 80 per cent.
On losses incurred by the Indian government due to illicit trade, Jha said the report had estimated that the government had suffered a loss of Rs39, 239crore in 2014 up from Rs 26,190 incurred in 2012.
