This paper’s investigation further found that Win, claimed to be produced by Hongyunhonghe Tobacco from China, is not listed in the company’s website. This shields them from traceability,” Gupta added. “If you follow their market movement, you would notice that they change the logos every 2-3 months. Gupta further pointed out that these illicit cigarette brands keep changing the logo to avoid any accountability. They are low on prices and have no pictorial warnings, which makes one believe they are safer than the ones which have an image of a person with throat and lung cancer,” said Umendra Kumar Gupta, president Authentication Solutions Providers Association (ASPA). These are openly sold at every nook and corner. “Almost every paan shop has close to 10-15 brands of smuggled cigarettes. As a result apart from the aesthetic appeal, this lack of warning creates an impression among the smokers that these cigarettes are comparatively less hazardous. While the illegal cigarette trade is on a growth trajectory due to high tax arbitrage, the legal cigarette industry continues to decline as a consequence of successive years of high excise duty rate increases, cumulatively going up by 125% since 2012-13.Īlso, these illegal cigarettes do not comply with the excessively large 85% warnings on legal cigarettes, mandated by the government. ” said a 24-year-old call centre employee on the condition of anonymity. I had to switch to Esse Lights which cost me Rs 110. “When I started smoking back in 2010, Classic Milds used to cost me Rs 95 for a pack of 20 now, it comes for Rs 260. The current price of legal cigarettes (70mm-80mm) is over Rs 270. For instance, Esse lights, Win and Paris cost Rs 100 per packet, while Gudan Garam and Dunhill cost around Rs 220 per packet. Depending on the popularity of the brands, their prices have also shot up. The distributor further revealed that most popular brands of these illegal cigarettes circulating in the market are Esse lights, Win, Gudan Garam, Marlboro, Camel, Dunhill, Paris, etc. This is profitable for everyone compared to domestic cigarettes where you get peanuts in the name of profit,” a cigarette distributer in South Delhi told this correspondent. They sell them to retailers at around Rs 70-80, who in turn sell it for Rs 100-110. There are cigarettes which reach wholesalers at Rs 40-50 for the pack of 20 sticks. “The cigarettes that cost around Rs 100-150 for a pack of 20 sticks in Dubai and Bangladesh can be sold close to Rs 250. The high profit margin has resulted in the frequent smuggling of these foreign cigarettes. Illegal cigarettes or the duty-evaded cigarettes enter the Indian markets through sea routes and baggage and courier mode at the airports from countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Indonesia and China. In addition to this, non-adherence of illegal cigarettes with regulations like pictorial warnings, lends an impression that they are safer alternatives to their legal counterpart,” Syed Mahmood Ahmad, director, Tobacco Institute of India (TII), said. “The illegal cigarette trade is on a growth trajectory due to the high tax arbitrage. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, industry experts said that high and discriminatory taxes coupled with extreme regulations such as pictorial warnings are providing a boost to the trade of illegal and counterfeit cigarettes in India.
According to Euromonitor International, illegal cigarettes in India have more than doubled, having increased to 23.9 billion sticks in 2015 from 11.1 billion sticks in 2004, making India the fourth largest illegal cigarette market in the world and clearly a preferred destination for international cigarette smugglers.
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