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Rajya Sabha returned the Health Security to National Security Cess Bill, 2025, to the Lok Sabha, which approved it on December 5.
The proposed Health and National Security Cess, which will be in addition to GST, will be levied on the production capacity of machines in pan masala manufacturing factories.
Currently, pan masala, tobacco and related products attract 28% GST and compensation cess at various rates. With the abolition of compensation cess, the GST rate will become 40 percent.
Additionally, excise duty will be imposed on tobacco and health and national security cess on pan masala.
Responding to the debate on the bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the purpose of the cess is to meet the cost of national and health security.
He said, “The aim of this cess is to promote national security and health protection. It will not be imposed on any essential goods, but only on demerit goods.”
Sitharaman said, raising a dedicated stream of revenue for a credible defense capability is very important, especially in this era of high-tech warfare.
He said modern conflicts are dominated by precision weapons, autonomous systems, space assets, and cyber operations and battlefield intelligence, all of which require very capital-intensive expenditures.
He said, “Technology is a fast-growing area, so you have to keep updating the technology, which also requires investment to upgrade. I am sure all members will agree with me that in the age of technology, there is a need to be constantly updated about the latest. We cannot compromise on this front.”
He said the country needs a steady flow of revenue to keep the defense forces fit to fight.
“So this cess actually provides a viable mechanism to strengthen both the health of citizens and military preparedness,” Sitharaman said.
He said that under the earlier GST regime, sin goods or demerit goods attracted GST along with compensation cess, increasing the total incidence to 88% in some cases, and was always above 40%.
He said, with the advent of the next generation GST, compensation cess has been phased out, and GST alone now offers a limit of 40%.
Elaborating on the questions raised by the members, Sitharaman said the Center will also share some part of the cess with the states.
Attacking previous governments, he said earlier defense ministers had said in Parliament that they did not have enough money to purchase equipment.
He said, “Congress moved forward with this approach. Defense treasury was not a priority for them. The then Defense Minister AK Antony said in Parliament – “I cannot buy this equipment because I do not have money.”
“In fact, during the Kargil war, soldiers were left without shoes, snow shoes which are very much required there… We did not even have enough ammunition to fight an intense war for 30 days or 17 days. So, defense was not a priority of the earlier regime. But ever since Prime Minister Modi has come, we have completely kept defense as the top priority,” Sitharaman said.
He said that the power to impose tax or double the tax rate arises only in an emergency.
Accordingly, the provision for prior approval of Parliament has been incorporated in the Act itself, he said, referring to the Health Care to National Security Cess Bill, 2025.
“So where is the discretion? Similar powers exist in other tax laws as well. This is not unique to this particular pan masala cess,” he said.
He said, “Even in customs, the duty is fixed at one level, but what is actually levied is often very low. If we want to increase it, we can do so because Parliament authorizes us to increase it up to a certain limit. If we want to go beyond that limit, we will have to come back to Parliament.”
These are streamlined processes that ensure parliamentary scrutiny.
Sitharaman said, “This law follows the same procedure. There is nothing discretionary, arbitrary or bypassing Parliament in it.”
Elaborating further, he said that no less money was being given to the states as alleged by some opposition members.
He said that ₹18.54 lakh crore was given to states under tax devolution during the time of UPA, while ₹71 lakh crore has been given during the 10 years of NDA.
Sitharaman said that cess was collected even before 2014.
He said the cess on crude oil, National Disaster Contingency Fee and Road and Infrastructure Cess all predate 2014.
The Health and Education Cess was introduced in 2004–05, and in 2018–19, the two were merged into a combined Health and Education Cess.
He said that for PMGSY, the allocation in 2024-25 was ₹13,327 crore, of which only ₹12,000 crore came from the road and infrastructure cess.
Although the cess contribution was ₹12,000 crore, ₹13,327 crore has been distributed to the states, he said.
He said that the states have got their share.