Bill to hike sugar cess ceiling introduced in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: A bill seeking to raise the sugar cess ceiling from Rs 25 to Rs 200 per quintal of sugar was introduced by Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the Lok Sabha today.

The Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015 has been brought forward as the committed expenditure on account of various interventions to faciliate liquidation of arrears of cane dues necessitates enhancement of the accruals into the Sugar Development Fund from cess, its statement of objects and reasons said.

An enhancement in rate of cess been necessitated to meet the increasing liabilities and finance interventions to ensure timely payments of cane dues to farmers, it said, while proposing to increase the ceiling of the cess from Rs 25 to Rs 200 per quintal of sugar.