Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar on Friday clarified Prime Minister Imran Khan and the cabinet did not approve a federal excise duty on internet data.

The duty will not be included in the final draft of the Finance Bill that has been put before the parliament for approval, the minister maintained after facing severe criticism.

"The PM and Cabinet did not approve the FED levy on internet data usage," tweeted the minister.

According to the budget documents circulated with the media,  the government imposed a Rs1 federal excise duty on mobile phone calls exceeding three minutes.

The proposal also said that Rs0.1 tax per SMS, and Rs5 tax per GB on internet data usage has been proposed.  To 

The budget document said that the proposal was made to reap reasonable revenue from the telecom sector.