A recent study conducted by research firm Euromonitor International suggests that Indians are smoking lot less these days.
Cigarette sales has reportedly been on a steady decline since 2011 and hit a steep low in 2015. According to the study, sales dropped to 88.1 billion sticks, compared to 95.9 billion sticks that were sold in 2014.
People trying to quit smoking is not the sole reason for this decline. The study indicates that lot of smokers are opting for counterfeit brands and smuggled cigarettes that far less expensive than legal brands. According to Euromonitor, the sale of such cigarettes increased to 21.3% in 2015 up from 19.2% in 2014.
“Legal cigarette industry continues to be severely impacted due to the cumulative impact of steep increase in taxation and intense regulatory pressures,” ITC Ltd, the country’s largest cigarette maker, said in its quarterly earnings statement on Thursday.
Another great factor that is contributing to the fall in sales is the Government’s efforts to curb the sale of cigarettes. Mandatory pictorial warnings on cigarette packs, aggressive anti-smoking ad campaigns are just few of the measures taken by the government to meet its aim of reducing tobacco use by 20% by 2020.
