Purbaya Prepares Fake Excise Stamp Detection Tool to Curb Illegal Cigarette Circulation

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is preparing a counterfeit excise stamp detection tool to optimise supervision of illegal cigarette circulation.

“We will implement new technology, called track and trace, from a company working with PERURI. With this, the excise stamps cannot be counterfeited,” Purbaya said when met at the Ministry of Finance office in Jakarta, quoted on Saturday, 29 August 2026.

According to Purbaya, the technology uses a special scanner that can detect fake excise stamps. The scanner can also be used via mobile phone, with a feature that can detect the origin of illegal cigarette distribution.

Purbaya plans to place the technology in a number of large cigarette factories. The track and trace technology will be connected to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Ministry of Finance so that the circulation of counterfeit excise stamps can be detected in real time.

“We will place machines in large cigarette factories. Later, perhaps all production quantities will be recorded. So, the machines will be placed there. The data will be linked directly to the central Customs and Excise office. Going forward, we hope such practices will decrease. If possible, we would like to eliminate them entirely,” Purbaya said.

The company involved in developing this technology, besides PERURI, is a private company from abroad.

Purbaya said the procurement scheme for the machines involves the system provider investing, with the government paying a certain percentage.

The payment amount will later take into account the additional revenue obtained after the system is implemented. However, Purbaya has not yet detailed the percentage or the calculation mechanism.

The government plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the system over a five-year period. Purbaya stressed that the use of the system can be terminated if it does not provide additional revenue for the state.

So far, the detection tool has been trialled in Central Java and will be expanded gradually in the future.

“The machines are custom-made, they have to be built specifically, which takes time. One has now been trialled in Central Java. In the near future it will be expanded. Because within six months, if I am not mistaken, we will have 100 machines. Within nine months, 240 machines,” he said.