KATHMANDU, July 14

The government has jacked up excise duty by 10 to 12 per cent on average on all types of cigarettes, beer and alcohol through the fiscal budget for 2015-16.

The excise duty of non-filtered cigarettes has been fixed at Re 0.32 per piece from the earlier duty of Re 0.29. On filtered cigarettes, the excise duty has been increased in a range of Re 0.06 to Re 0.16 based on the length of the filter. Excise on gutkha has been hiked by Rs 50 per kg to Rs 375. The excise duty on per piece of cigar too has been increased by one rupee to Rs 11.

Similarly, the government has increased excise duty on beer from Rs 92 to Rs 98 per litre. Excise duty has also been increased on whiskeys and imported wines. For imported wines with 12 per cent alcohol content, the excise duty has been hiked by Rs 20 per litre to Rs 250 a litre and for those with more than 17 per cent alcohol content, excise duty has been hiked to Rs 290 from Rs 260 per litre.

Likewise, excise duty on a litre of whiskey with 42.8 per cent alcohol content has been increased by Rs 53 to Rs 591. For whiskey with 39.94 per cent alcohol content, it has been hiked by Rs 50 to Rs 551. A similar increase in excise duty has been made on vodka, gin and rum.

Government has raised excise duty on juices by one rupee per litre and on potato chips by Rs 7.50 per kg.

The government has not increased excise duty on construction materials considering the massive reconstruction activities that need to be undertaken in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

However, excise duty on some products that have a nominal contribution to revenue has been abolished. There will be no excise duty levied on dog/cat feed and ceramic bricks in fiscal 2015-16.