Rising cigarette prices fuel counterfeit boom in Bihar’s MungerGSTDated:- 25-1-2026PTIBhagalpur, Jan 25 (PTI) Munger, a nondescript town in Bihar that once etched its name in industrial history as the first place in Asia to roll out cigarette sticks, is n
Rising cigarette prices fuel counterfeit boom in Bihar's Munger
GST
Dated:- 25-1-2026
PTI
Bhagalpur, Jan 25 (PTI) Munger, a nondescript town in Bihar that once etched its name in industrial history as the first place in Asia to roll out cigarette sticks, is now grappling with a very different distinction: emerging as a hub for counterfeit cigarettes amid steadily rising prices.
The town has long been associated with India's cigarette industry. A factory set up here in 1907 by the erstwhile Imperial Tobacco Company of India Ltd, now ITC Ltd, a diversified conglomerate and a Nifty 50 constituent, was the company's first manufacturing unit and remains its oldest. Interestingly, the Munger factory of ITC shares its birth year with
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te sticks worth around Rs 50 lakh, along with Rs 85 lakh in cash, from a locality near the factory area. The haul underscored the growing threat posed by the trade, which not only deprives the exchequer of tax revenue but also raises serious public health concerns.
“It is a serious issue afflicting this area, and we are making concerted efforts to curb it,” Munger Superintendent of Police Syed Imran Masood told PTI.
“We have conducted several search and seizure operations in the past to rein in the counterfeit cigarette trade. Following the recent big seizure, it appears that many syndicates have either gone underground or fled the district, as no similar incidents have been reported since the Rs 50 lakh haul,” he said.
Masood, however,
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igarette vendor, said agents working for syndicates collect empty packets of popular brands from retailers at prices ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 per packet.
“These packets are reused to pack counterfeit cigarettes, which are then pushed into the market. The people involved keep changing frequently to maintain anonymity,” Chaurasia said.
With cigarette prices already having risen sharply, many consumers are turning to cheaper alternatives. “That's where counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes come to their rescue, because they cost much less than the original ones,” he added.
Besides this, Munger is also known for its craftsmanship in country-made firearms, and the rise of illegal arms manufacturing is another key reason behind the decline of
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