The Finance Bill 2025 may include an amendment in the CGST Act 2017 to empower government to implement “track and trace” mechanism put a check on evasion prone commodities including Cigarettes and Pan Masala

In 55th GST Council Meet, measures for streamlining compliances in GST was recommended and one of such recommendations was to insert an enabling provision in CGST Act, 2017 through Section 148A so as to empower the Government to enforce the Track and Trace Mechanism for specified evasion prone commodities

Cigarettes are expected to be among the first products brought under a “track and trace mechanism” aimed at curbing tax evasion, following amendments to the Central GST Act cleared by the GST Council on Saturday. Pan masala may also be included in the initiative.

The system shall be based on a Unique Identification Marking which shall be affixed on the said goods or the packages thereof. This will provide a legal framework for developing such a system and will help in implementation of mechanisms for tracing specified commodities throughout the supply chain.

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