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On Wednesday, the government promulgated an Ordinance to ban electronic cigarettes in India. In this context, we look at what are electronic cigarettes, what are the current regulations in place, and what the Ordinance seeks to do.
What are electronic cigarettes?
The Ordinance defines electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as battery-operated devices that heat a substance, which may or may not contain nicotine, to create vapour for inhalation. These e-cigarettes can also contain different flavours such as menthol, mango, watermelon, and cucumber. Usually, e-cigarettes are shaped like conventional tobacco products (such as cigarettes, cigars, or hookahs), but they also take the form of everyday items such as pens and USB memory sticks.
Unlike traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco and therefore are not regulated under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003. This Act regulates the sale, production, and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products in India, and prohibits advertisement of cigarettes.
What are the international regulations for e-cigarettes?
India is a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) which was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic. In 2014, the WHO FCTC invited all its signatories to consider prohibiting or regulating e-cigarettes in their countries. This was suggested due to emerging evidence on the negative health impact of these products which could result in lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and other illnesses associated with smoking.
Since then, several countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, and Thailand have banned the production, manufacture, and sale of e-cigarettes. Recently, the states of New York and Michigan in USA banned the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes. Whereas, in UK, the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes has been allowed based on certain conditions. Further, the advertisement and promotion, and the levels of nicotine in e-cigarettes is also regulated.
Prior to the Ordinance, were e-cigarettes regulated in India?
In August 2018, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had released an advisory to all states requiring them to not approve any new e-cigarettes and restrict the sale and advertisements of e-cigarettes. Based on this advisory, 15 states including Delhi, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh have since banned e-cigarettes. However, this advisory was challenged in the Delhi High Court in March 2019, which subsequently imposed a stay on the ban.
What does the Ordinance do?
The Ordinance prohibits the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution and advertisement of e-cigarettes in India. Any person who contravenes this provision will be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of one lakh rupees, or both. For any subsequent offence, the person will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to three years, along with a fine of up to five lakh rupees.
Additionally, storage of e-cigarettes will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of Rs 50,000 or both. Once the Ordinance comes into force (i.e., on September 18, 2019), the owners of existing stocks of e-cigarettes will have to declare and deposit these stocks at the nearest office of an authorised officer. Such an authorised officer may be a police officer (at least at the level of a sub-inspector), or any other officer as notified by the central or state government.
Note that, the Ordinance does not contain any provisions regarding possession or use of e-cigarettes. The Ordinance will be in force for the next six months, and must be approved by Parliament within six weeks of the commencement of the next session of Parliament. If it is not passed within this time frame, it will cease to be in force.
The Finance Commission is a constitutional body formed by the President of India to give suggestions on centre-state financial relations. The 15th Finance Commission is required to submit two reports. The first report will consist of recommendations for the financial year 2020-21. The final report with recommendations for the 2021-26 period will be submitted by October 30, 2020. In this post, we explain the key recommendations of the report.
What is the amount of tax devolution to the states, and how is it being calculated?
The Finance Commission uses certain criteria when deciding the devolution to states. For example, income distance criterion has been used by the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions. Under this criterion, states with lower per capita income would be given a higher share to maintain equity among states. Another example is Demographic Performance criterion which has been introduced by the 15th Finance Commission. The Demographic Performance criterion is to reward efforts made by states in controlling their population.
The 15th Finance Commission used the following criteria while determining the share of states: (i) 45% for the income distance, (ii) 15% for the population in 2011, (iii) 15% for the area, (iv) 10% for forest and ecology, (v) 12.5% for demographic performance, and (vi) 2.5% for tax effort. For 2020-21, the Commission has recommended a total devolution of Rs 8,55,176 crore to the states, which is 41% of the divisible pool of taxes. This is 1% lower than the percentage recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
Table 1 below compares the new criteria with the criteria recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
Table 1: Criteria for devolution (2020-21)
|
Criteria |
14th FC 2015-20 |
15th FC 2020-21 |
|
Income Distance |
50.0 |
45.0 |
|
Population 1971 |
17.5 |
- |
|
Population 2011 |
10.0 |
15.0 |
|
Area |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
Forest Cover |
7.5 |
- |
|
Forest and Ecology |
- |
10.0 |
|
Demographic Performance |
- |
12.5 |
|
Tax Effort |
- |
2.5 |
|
Total |
100 |
100 |
Sources: Report for the year 2020-21, 15th Finance Commission; PRS.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have received the largest devolutions for 2020-21, receiving Rs 1,53,342 crore, and Rs 86,039 crore respectively. Karnataka and Kerala saw the largest decreases in the share of the divisible pool with a decrease of 0.49% and 0.25% respectively. Table 2 below displays the state-wise breakdown of the share in the divisible pool and the total devolution.
Table 3: Share of states in the centre’s taxes
|
State |
14th Finance Commission |
15th Finance Commission |
Devolution for FY 2020-2021 |
||
|
Share out of 42% |
Share in divisible pool |
Share out of 41% |
Share in divisible pool |
(In Rs crore) |
|
|
Andhra Pradesh |
1.81 |
4.31 |
1.69 |
4.11 |
35,156 |
|
Arunachal Pradesh |
0.58 |
1.38 |
0.72 |
1.76 |
15,051 |
|
Assam |
1.39 |
3.31 |
1.28 |
3.13 |
26,776 |
|
Bihar |
4.06 |
9.67 |
4.13 |
10.06 |
86,039 |
|
Chhattisgarh |
1.29 |
3.07 |
1.4 |
3.42 |
29,230 |
|
Goa |
0.16 |
0.38 |
0.16 |
0.39 |
3,301 |
|
Gujarat |
1.3 |
3.1 |
1.39 |
3.4 |
29,059 |
|
Haryana |
0.46 |
1.1 |
0.44 |
1.08 |
9,253 |
|
Himachal Pradesh |
0.3 |
0.71 |
0.33 |
0.8 |
6,833 |
|
Jammu and Kashmir |
0.78 |
1.86 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Jharkhand |
1.32 |
3.14 |
1.36 |
3.31 |
28,332 |
|
Karnataka |
1.98 |
4.71 |
1.49 |
3.65 |
31,180 |
|
Kerala |
1.05 |
2.5 |
0.8 |
1.94 |
16,616 |
|
Madhya Pradesh |
3.17 |
7.55 |
3.23 |
7.89 |
67,439 |
|
Maharashtra |
2.32 |
5.52 |
2.52 |
6.14 |
52,465 |
|
Manipur |
0.26 |
0.62 |
0.29 |
0.72 |
6,140 |
|
Meghalaya |
0.27 |
0.64 |
0.31 |
0.77 |
6,542 |
|
Mizoram |
0.19 |
0.45 |
0.21 |
0.51 |
4,327 |
|
Nagaland |
0.21 |
0.5 |
0.23 |
0.57 |
4,900 |
|
Odisha |
1.95 |
4.64 |
1.9 |
4.63 |
39,586 |
|
Punjab |
0.66 |
1.57 |
0.73 |
1.79 |
15,291 |
|
Rajasthan |
2.31 |
5.5 |
2.45 |
5.98 |
51,131 |
|
Sikkim |
0.15 |
0.36 |
0.16 |
0.39 |
3,318 |
|
Tamil Nadu |
1.69 |
4.02 |
1.72 |
4.19 |
35,823 |
|
Telangana |
1.02 |
2.43 |
0.87 |
2.13 |
18,241 |
|
Tripura |
0.27 |
0.64 |
0.29 |
0.71 |
6,063 |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
7.54 |
17.95 |
7.35 |
17.93 |
1,53,342 |
|
Uttarakhand |
0.44 |
1.05 |
0.45 |
1.1 |
9,441 |
|
West Bengal |
3.08 |
7.33 |
3.08 |
7.52 |
64,301 |
|
Total |
42 |
100 |
41 |
100 |
8,55,176 |
Sources: Reports of 14th and 15th Finance Commission; PRS.
What are the various grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission?
The Terms of Reference of the Finance Commission require it to recommend grants-in-aid to the States. These grants include: (i) revenue deficit grants, (ii) grants to local bodies, and (iii) disaster management grants.
14 states are estimated to face a revenue deficit post-devolution. To make up for this deficit, the Commission has recommended revenue deficit grants worth Rs 74,341 crore to these 14 states. Additionally, three states (Karnataka, Mizoram, and Telangana) have received special grants worth Rs 6,674 crore. The special grants are being given to compensate for a decline in the sum of tax devolution and revenue deficit grants in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20.
The Commission has recommended a total of Rs 90,000 crore for grants to the local bodies in 2020-21. This amounts to an increase over the Rs 87,352 crore allocated for 2019-20 for the same. The new allocation is 4.31% of the divisible pool. Of this sum, Rs 60,750 crore has been recommended for rural local bodies, and Rs 29,250 crore for urban local bodies. These grants will be made available to all three tiers of Panchayat- village, block, and district.
To promote local-level mitigation activities, the Commission has recommended the setting up of National and State Disaster Management Funds. Recommended grants for the State Disaster Risk Management Fund is Rs 28,983 crore, while the allocation for the National Disaster Risk Management Fund is Rs 12,390 crore.
Apart from these, guidelines for performance-based grants and sector-specific grants have been outlined. The Commission has recommended a grant of Rs 7,375 crore for nutrition in 2020-21. Sectors for which sector-specific grants will be provided in the final report include: (i) nutrition, (ii) health, (iii) pre-primary education, (iv) judiciary, and (v) railways.
For more details, please see our summary of the report.
