Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in India

18th July 2024: India: The Ministry of Health is reportedly planning to ask the Board of Control for Cricket in India to stop promoting tobacco products in Indian cricket stadiums, especially advertising that features former cricketers and Bollywood celebrities.
3rd October 2023: India: The Ministry of Health has said in a clarification that the possession of heated tobacco products (HTPs) is in violation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarette Act (PECA) 2019, adding that the enforcement of the ban will be strengthened, press reports. Although there is no explicit provision prohibiting the individual use of HTPs in PECA, the ministry said that “possession of e-cigarettes [including HTPs] within the country in any quantity is not possible without contravening the provisions of PECA, 2019”.
11th August 2023: India: The lieutenant governor of Delhi has approved the extension of the ban on the "manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of tobacco – whether flavoured, scented or mixed with any addictive substance – and going by the name or form of gutkha, paan masala, flavoured or scented tobacco or kharra" in the territory for a year, press reports. The move, which will affect only the union territory of Delhi – with roughly 33m citizens – must now be notified by the food safety commissioner.
21st July 2023: India: The Ministry of Health has asked state ministries to report violations of the nationwide ban on the production, sale, import, export, assembly, distribution, advertising and online trade of heated tobacco products through its dedicated portal, press reports. The statement follows the recent notices reportedly sent by the Ministry of Health to 15 websites selling e-cigarettes, directing them to stop advertisement and sale of the products.
6th June 2023: India: Netflix, Amazon and Disney reportedly met last Friday to explore a possible legal challenge to the rules issued by the Ministry of Health on 31st May obliging streaming platforms to display anti-tobacco warning messages whenever a tobacco product or its use is shown, from 31st August. The companies say the rule could force them to stop offering their services in India as they would have to modify and edit millions of hours of old web content in order to comply.
31st May 2023: India: The Ministry of Health has issued new rules today pursuant to which media streaming services must display anti-tobacco warning messages whenever a tobacco product or its use is displayed. The same rules establish the type of messages and the requirements that these warnings must meet. The rules will enter into force on 31st August 2023.
23rd May 2023: India: The Health Ministry has called for stricter enforcement of the statutory ban, which covers manufacturing, import, export, distribution and advertising of heated tobacco devices as well as e-cigarettes, including parts and accessories, press reports.
27th April 2023: India: The Supreme Court has stayed an order by the Madras High Court that quashed the Tamil Nadu food safety commissioner’s decision to ban the manufacture, storage, transport, distribution and sale of gutkha, pan masala and other chewable products containing tobacco or nicotine, press reports. It means the sale of such products remains banned in Tamil Nadu, a southern state with a population of 76m.
18th April 2023: India: A former Parliament member has published an academic paper concluding that the national ban on heat-not-burn (HnB) products ordered by the government in 2019 has been unsuccessful. Rajeev Gowda said the country should lift the ban and instead regulate heated tobacco through the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). Gowda also suggested commissioning studies on how HnB products can be used as a harm-reduction tool and smoking-cessation aid.
11th April 2023: India: The Delhi High Court has upheld a ban imposed by the city’s Food Safety Commissioner on the manufacture, storage and sale of gutka, pan masala, flavoured smokeless tobacco, and similar products in the city, press reports. The ban was quashed by the same court last September, but a new bench has now set that decision aside. The court noted that the ban does not prohibit tobacco itself, but the addition of tobacco to “food products”, defined as including the named oral products.
22nd February 2023: India: Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said yesterday that the central government is working on amending several laws regulating tobacco, namely the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, the Food Safety and Standards Act, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, to cover new products, press reports.
16th February 2023: India: The national Ministry of Health has written to all state health ministries asking them to ensure compliance with the statutory ban on heated tobacco products, press reports. The letter expresses concern over the availability of heat-not-burn (HnB) products, e-cigarettes and e-hookahs online and in convenience stores near schools, giving young people easy access to prohibited devices.

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