India reaffirms 2019 e-cigarette ban rejecting Philip Morris lobbying

Key facts

• India banned e-cigarettes including heat-not-burn devices in 2019 and will not revoke, amend or relax the ban.
• The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated the law explicitly prohibits heat-not-burn products and the situation will stay.
• Philip Morris International lobbied Indian officials and a parliamentary panel from 2021 to 2025 to exempt its IQOS heated tobacco device from the ban.
• India is the seventh-largest cigarette market by volume with over 100 billion cigarettes sold annually and tobacco kills more than a million people each year in the country.
• Philip Morris holds 76% of the global heated tobacco market and IQOS has more than 35 million users across 79 markets.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research told Reuters it is not considering or undertaking any research on heated tobacco products.