 "Single cigarette sales set to end: Key facts you must know")
India moved a step closer to banning the sale of unpackaged cigarettes, with a view to discourage smoking in a country where close to a million people each year die of tobacco-related diseases.
Here are the key facts you need to know:
1.More than 70 percent of the cigarettes sold in India are loose. The health ministry has accepted the recommendation of an internal panel and will seek cabinet approval before imposing the ban, Health Minister JP Nadda told parliament in a written statement on Tuesday.
2. Shares in India’s largest cigarette maker, ITC fell 5.2 percent, its biggest daily drop in five months, and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd lost nearly 9 percent. At ITC, which has been diversifying into other products, tobacco accounted for 41 per cent of its revenue and 77 per cent of its profit before tax last year.
Morgan Stanley said the proposed ban was a “clear sentiment negative” for ITC, although implementing it would be difficult. Cigarette companies could introduce smaller pack sizes to cushion the impact of the proposed policy change, it said.
3. As many as 900,000 people in India die from tobacco-related diseases a year, and that number could jump to 1.5 million by 2020, the International Tobacco Control Project estimates. India is a party to The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which states that countries “shall endeavour” to prohibit sales of loose cigarettes, which are more affordable for minors.
4. The panel’s recommendation also calls for an increase in the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products and a rise in the penalties for violators. Details on how the government would implement such a ban on single smokes were not disclosed. The ministry has also proposed a 100-fold increase in the fine for public smoking to Rs 20,000. The minimum age for tobacco use is now 18, and the fine for public smoking Rs 200.
5. Anti-smoking groups hailed the Centre’s move. “The proposal to forbid the sale of loose cigarettes and increase the age of sale on top of the government’s announcement of new health warnings is a demonstration of India’s global leadership and will save millions of lives and protect India’s youth,” Matthew L Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, was quoted as saying in the Hindu Business Line.
6. But the ban on loose sales would be difficult to enforce in the absence of adequate mechanisms to monitor 7-8 million retail outlets in India.
7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which took office six months ago, has been adopting measures to curb India’s tobacco consumption. Last month it increased taxes on tobacco products and ordered companies to stamp health warnings across 85 percent of the surface of cigarette packs.
8. Six years ago, India had banned smoking in public places. However, violations have been easy to spot ever since. There is already a ban on selling cigarettes and bidis near educational institutions and to those under the age of 18 years.
9. According to the Global Audit Tobacco Survey (covering those aged at least 15), about 35% of the respondents consumed tobacco in some form. The percentage of men consuming tobacco stood at 47%; for women, it was 20%. According to data from market research firm Euromonitor Inernational, India smoked 102.1 billion sticks of cigarettes in 2012.
10. The panel has also recommended that public smoking be made a cognisable offence, meaning that a person caught smoking in public can be prosecuted in a court of law.
With inputs from Agencies