Trends in affordability of tobacco products before and after the transition to GST in India.

Bidis continue to be highly affordable while the affordability of cigarettes and SLT increased mainly due to lack of any tax changes after GST and the growth in per-capita income. To effectively reduce affordability, significant increase in either the excise taxes and/or the compensation cess-a temporary duty in addition to GST-is warranted. Compensation cess should also be applied on bidis to address the huge tobacco use problem in India.