Smoking in India
Smoking is legally allowed in India but there exist some specific restrictions. Under these regulations, cigarettes are permitted for sale and can be legally purchased online, while sales through vending machines are not permitted. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a license. Health warnings on cigarette packaging are required, the minimum legal age for purchase is 18 years, and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places. Advertising of cigarettes is regulated, which bans all types of advertising. Cigarettes are subject to a specific excise value of 28.92% and a total taxation rate of 57.60%. The current prevalence of smoking among adults aged 15 years and older in Inida was reported to be 9.3% in 2024, reflecting an increase from 8.1% in 2020. The current smoking prevalence among adult males was significantly higher with 16.7% in 2024, compared to 1.4% among adult females that year. This gender disparity has been consistent, as in 2020, the prevalence among males was 14.4% and 1.40% among females. The total number of smokers in 2024 was approximately 100,2 million individuals, showing an increase from 80,481,112 in 2020. Smoking-related mortality remains a significant health concern in India, with 1,048,266 recorded deaths in 2021. This accounts for 8.92% of all deaths in the country. Of these deaths, 233,679 were female deaths, representing 4.59% of all female deaths, while 814,587 were male deaths, accounting for 12.23% of all male deaths. These data underscore the ongoing public health challenges posed by tobacco smoking in India, highlighting the necessity for effective public health measures to reduce smoking prevalence and its associated mortalities.
Read articles from India
September 02, 2018 by thehindu.com
Group questions Centre advisory on e-cigarette ban
The recent advisory issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the State government seeking a ban on sale of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) [...] is based on “poor advice, lack of scientific evidence and complete absence of basis,” said a group representing e-cigarette users across the country. The Association of Vapers India (AVI), an organisation that represents e-cigarette users across the country, has hit back at the Centre and questioned the motive behind the advisory.
August 31, 2018 by deccanchronicle.com
E-cigarettes ban was long overdue, say city doctors
The Centre’s decision to ban e-cigarettes has been welcomed by doctors and health professionals in the city, who believe it is long due. Responding, Dr Satayanarayana Mysore, head of the department of interventional pulmonology and sleep medicine at Manipal Hospitals in the city, says the ban on e-cigarettes is a positive step as they have several side effects. “Considering how harmful they are, they must be completely avoided,” he adds.
August 29, 2018 by reuters.com
India's health ministry calls for halting sales of e-cigarettes, smoking devices
India’s federal health ministry called on Tuesday for stopping the sale or import of electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn tobacco devices that companies like Philip Morris International Inc were planning to launch in the country. India has stringent laws to deter tobacco use, which the government says kills more than 900,000 people every year. But the country still has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China according to the World Health Organization.
August 22, 2018 by thehindu.com
HC raps Centre for delaying implementation of rules on e-cigarettes
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday took strong exception to Centre’s indecision in coming up with regulatory measures on manufacture, import, sale and any kind of trade in e-cigarettes in the country. A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V. Kameswar Rao asked the Centre to indicate in an affidavit a time frame within which the regulatory measures will be brought into place and ‘enforced in letter and spirit’.
August 21, 2018 by indiatimes.com
New images for pictorial warning, 'quit line' number on tobacco product packs
The health ministry on Monday issued new images for the pictorial warning on packs of cigarette and other tobacco products
The new pictures, which will be used with effect from September 1, will have to be accompanied with a quitline number. According to a health ministry order, all packs of tobacco products must have "tobacco causes cancer" and "tobacco causes painful death" written in white on a red background, [...]
July 25, 2018 by newindianexpress.com
Now, more city youth hooked to e-cigarettes despite doctors’ warning
The youth of Vijayawada have taken to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or e-cigs), which puts them at a risk of getting addicted to yet another form of nicotine-intake. [...] Objecting to the sale and usage of these cigarettes in the city, members of Consumer Guidance Society (CGS) wrote a letter to the Chief Minister and Health Minister, urging them to impose an immediate ban on these products.
June 01, 2018 by timesnownews.com
World No Tobacco Day: India among top 4 users of tobacco
New Delhi: Tobacco is one of the most common and preferred forms of addiction. Even though scientific evidences have revealed its harmful health effects, the use of tobacco in different forms has seen a dramatic increase, especially in the developing countries. This potentially lethal substance is responsible for more than 1 in 10 fatalities globally, with India featuring among the top four users of tobacco. About 11.2 percent smokers worldwide [...]
May 25, 2018 by indiatimes.com
Bihar extends ban on tobacco items for one year
The food safety wing of state health department has extended the ban on the manufacture, sales and distribution of productscontaining tobacco and nicotine for one more year with effect from May 21.
A notice was issued by principal secretary (health) and food safety commissioner Sanjay Kumar in this regard on Tuesday. The ban applies on tobacco, pan masala, zarda, gutka and other tobacco-based flavoured mouth fresheners, whether packed or loose.
May 18, 2018 by go.com
Young American smokers get half of their smoke through hookahs: Study
Over half of the tobacco smoke consumed by young American smokers is inhaled through hookahs, and more must be done to specifically curb this kind of smoking, a new study published in the British Medical Journal Thursday found.
In the study, researchers surveyed more than 3,300 American adults aged 18 to 30 and asked them how frequently and how much hookah smoking -- also known as waterpipe tobacco smoking -- and regular cigarette smoking they did in March and April of 2013.
May 02, 2018 by thenationalnews.com
UK leading the way in e-cigarette regulation
As some nations stall in their efforts to support the rising tide of e-cigarettes, others are leading the way in promoting less harmful alternative to conventional tobacco products.
Praise has been heaped on Public Health England by experts in the field at a global summit on e-cigarettes in Washington DC, for the authority’s support of vaping as an effective method in helping smokers quit.
The sale of e-cigarettes is banned in the UAE [...]