Central 'exercise'

Everyone in the country is aware of income tax, but very few people know about central excise duty, Central Board of Excise & Customs Chairman S K Goel thinks. “The common man calls it central exercise… I say income tax is paid mainly by rich people, but everyone pays central excise without even knowing it,” he said at the Central Excise Day celebrations recently. This may not be an inaccurate description: with excise collections dwindling in the recent times it is actually becoming an “exercise” for the CBEC to maximise revenues.