The illegal Indian tobacco trade

Contending that illicit trade in tobacco products is a major problem as it undermines tobacco control policies and leads to a significant revenue loss, Union Health Secretary on Friday stressed on the need to have a mission-control approach to tackle the issue. 

“Illicit trade in tobacco products is a global problem. It undermines tobacco control policies and also leads to significant revenue losses. The elimination of all forms of illicit trade including smuggling and illegal manufacturing is therefore, an essential component of tobacco control,” Bhanu Pratap Sharma, Secretary in the Health Ministry, said. 

“Tobacco control is not just a health issue. It is a multi-sectoral issue needing a dedicated mission-control approach to tackle it,” he said during a national consultation meeting here on the topic ‘Illicit trade of tobacco products’. 

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence’s seizure data on smuggling indicates over a four-fold increase in the value of seizures of smuggled cigarettes in 2014 as compared to 2012. 

The import duty evasion from smuggling into the country for the financial year 2014-15 is estimated to be around Rs 2,363 crore, according to a working paper by World Health Organization (WHO). 

According to the paper, the smuggled cigarettes are suspected to be from Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, China and United Arab Emirates and common transit points for them seem to be Delhi, Singapore and Dubai. 

“Many countries in our region share long, porous borders that provide easy opportunity for the smuggling of tobacco products. These products are not subject to legal restrictions and effective health regulations aimed at curbing tobacco use, such as pictorial warnings or banning sales to minors, this is fueling the tobacco epidemic,” Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO in South-East Asia Region, said in her ‘World No Tobacco Day’ message today. 

She said all South-East Asian countries have enacted stringent laws to control tobacco consumption, both on pricing and sale of tobacco products in country as well as against import of foreign brands. 

“Despite these efforts, there is still a thriving trade in smuggled tobacco products,” she said as she urged member states to speed up their process of ratifying the protocol developed to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products which the international community had adopted in November 2012.