Rijo M. John, PhD The tobacco taxation regime in India remained largely unchanged following the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017. This situation evolved following deliberations at the 56th meeting of the GST Council in September 2025 and the enactment of subsequent legislation. Together these initiated a comprehensive restructuring of the […]
Category: India
Global Youth Tobacco Survey-4: A Glimmer of hope for India
Ravi Mehrotra and Kavita Yadav The fourth round of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4) was conducted in 2019 by the International Institute for Population Sciences under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India. These data provide a useful cross-sectional picture of youth tobacco use, and repeat surveys at regular intervals provide useful […]
India’s regulatory struggle to rein in smokeless tobacco use: is Covid-19 a game changer?
Deepak Mishra, Riddhi D’souza, Adhip Amin, Pranay Lal and Dr. Kaushal Kishore India has introduced laws for some of the most stringent physical distancing measures in the world. In addition to these measures, which started on 25 March 2020, there have been a range of restrictions introduced to contain the potential for smokeless tobacco use […]
Smokeless tobacco use and the COVID-19 pandemic
The use of tobacco products is of particular concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Head and neck surgeons Dr Arjun Singh and Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi argue that smokeless tobacco use requires attention to help stop the spread of the disease. Since late 2019, the world has witnessed the spread of a pandemic affecting the respiratory […]
World: Gandhi’s legacy and a Tobacco-Free World
From Indian public health researchers Amit Yadav and Prashant Kumar Singh, a call to action for world leaders to take action at the UN General Assembly on the eve of Gandhi’s 150th birthday. “A correspondent who is interested in a variety of reforms asks what the nation pays for her tobacco bill. I find that […]
The “Messi” problem of bidi branding in India
Kevin Welding The Tobacco Pack Surveillance System (TPackSS) has been systematically collecting and digitally archiving tobacco packs in low and middle-income countries since 2013. In 2016, we added the “Share-a-Pack” feature to the website to allow the uploading of packaging images by anyone around the world. In July 2018, a bidi (or biri) pack with […]
India: steep decline in tobacco consumption in India reported in second Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2017)
Authors: Chaturvedi Pankaj , Sarin Ashima, Seth Sanjay, Gupta PC On 8th June 2017, results from the second Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2) of India were released. GATS is a global standard for systematically monitoring adult tobacco use and tracking key tobacco control indicators. India is the world’s largest democracy, and the second largest […]
Kerala: India’s first tobacco ad-free state
Rema Sundar, Tobacco Free Kerala Kerala has become the first state in India to become tobacco advertisement free. This major milestone for public health in the country represents strong government commitment, a favourable policy framework, accountability, and engagement by various departments to achieve robust enforcement. The first step was successfully abolishing tobacco advertisements at the points-of-sale […]
Can prohibition work? The case of India’s smokeless tobacco ban
Pankaj Chaturvedi, Sanjay Seth, Prakash C Gupta, Ashima Sarin Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai ‘Bans don’t work’ is a common response to measures to restrict or outlaw tobacco supply. Libertarians decry such measures as excessive ‘nanny state’ intervention; others point to the USA experience of alcohol prohibition in the 1930s, often held up as a failed […]
India: Government consultation to strengthen National Tobacco Control Law
Amit Yadav & Monika Arora, Public Health Foundation of India Two months after announcing larger and stronger pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products, and 10 years after ratifying the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Government of India is proposing to amend and strengthen […]