Image source: Nathan Hughes Hamilton/CC BY 2.0 DEED

Key Points

• Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, part of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region.
• It is the fourth most populous country in the world, with a population in 2022 of 275.5 million.
• Tobacco use prevalence is high, particularly amongst men. 34.5% of all adults were current tobacco users in 2021, including 65.5% of men.
• Indonesia has neither signed nor ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. As a non-party, it is ineligible to join the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
• The Indonesian tobacco market is dominated by local manufacturers PT Gudang Garam Tbk and PT Djarum, as well as Philip Morris International.
• Recent tobacco industry tactics in Indonesia include the use of third parties; the targeting of youth with tobacco marketing, both at point of sale and online, as well as via event sponsorship; and sponsorship of popular sports such as badminton and football.

According to the authors of a 2023 paper, “Indonesia has a high smoking prevalence that has not diminished significantly since 1990”. This has been driven by male smoking rates which remain amongst the highest in the world.¹² It is the only country in Asia to have neither signed nor ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC),³ and nor is there any comparable national framework for tobacco control.¹ Industry interference in policymaking is ongoing, as there is no effective legal mechanism to prevent it.⁴⁵ Smoking has long been a part of Indonesian culture, particularly for men, something which tobacco companies have exploited through aggressive marketing tactics that aim to reinforce smoking as a normal or even essential masculine behaviour.⁵⁶ This high degree of social acceptability means that the government treats the industry as a legitimate stakeholder.⁷ One key challenge, therefore, is to de-normalise tobacco use, as part of a comprehensive tobacco control plan.⁷⁸

Tobacco Use in Indonesia

The link between smoking and masculinity is deeply embedded within Indonesian culture.⁸⁹ This has been reinforced by tobacco marketing which associates tobacco products with characteristics traditionally considered masculine, such as strength, heroism and self-control.⁸⁹

In 2021, tobacco use prevalence amongst adults was 34.5%; 70.2 million adults were current users of tobacco.¹⁰ Nearly two-thirds (65.5%) of Indonesian men reported using tobacco, compared to around 3% of women.¹⁰

In 2019, nearly 20% of students aged from 13 to 15 reported tobacco use.¹¹ Around 36% of males in this age group reported current tobacco use compared to 3.5% of females.¹¹

Kreteks – cigarettes consisting of tobacco, cloves and flavourings such as chocolate, dried fruit and coffee – are by far the most popular tobacco product in Indonesia. According to government figures from 2017, kreteks accounted for more than 95% of the cigarettes sold that year.¹² The cloves provide a unique flavour and smell, and also contain eugenol, a chemical compound which reduces the harshness of the smoke.¹³ In 2021, close to 30% of all Indonesian adults – around 60 million of the country’s 70 million adult tobacco users – reported smoking kreteks.¹⁰

There were an estimated 246,000 deaths attributable to smoking in 2019, accounting for nearly 15% of all mortality in Indonesia that year.¹⁴ Research published in 2022 estimated the total cost of smoking to the Indonesian economy in 2019 at between Rp184.36 trillion (US$13 billion) and Rp410.76 trillion (US$29 billion).¹⁵ The same study found that direct healthcare costs accounted for between Rp17.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) and Rp27.7 trillion (US$2 billion), most of which is covered by the Social Security Agency for Health, equivalent to 57-59% of total direct expenditure on healthcare.¹⁵

Tobacco in Indonesia

Market share and leading brands

In 2022, market research company Euromonitor International put the value of the Indonesian tobacco market at over US$34 billion.¹⁶ It is the second-largest cigarette market in the world.¹⁷

The market leader in Indonesia is the local kretek manufacturer PT Gudang Garam Tbk (Gudang Garam), with nearly one-third of the market in 2022.¹⁸¹⁹

Its closest competitor is Philip Morris International (PMI), with a slightly smaller share.¹⁸ PMI operates in Indonesia via its subsidiaries PT Philip Morris Indonesia and PT HM Sampoerna Tbk (Sampoerna).¹⁸²⁰ At the time of its acquisition by PMI in 2005, Sampoerna was the leading tobacco company in Indonesia.²⁰²¹

PT Djarum (Djarum), another local kretek producer, has the third-largest market share, around half that of the two leading companies.¹⁸²²

Like PMI, other transnational tobacco companies have sought to expand into Indonesia by acquiring local companies. In 2009, British American Tobacco (BAT) bought an 85% stake in PT Bentoel Internasional Investama Tbk (Bentoel) – at the time the fourth largest tobacco company in the country.²¹ In 2011, the South Korean company Korea Tobacco & Ginseng (KT&G) – which has a partnership with PMI for its newer nicotine and tobacco products – bought a controlling share of Indonesia’s sixth-largest tobacco company, PT Trisakti Purwosari Makmur.²¹²³ Similarly, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) acquired two Gudang Garam subsidiaries, Karyadibya Mahardhika and its distributor, PT Surya Mustika Nusantara, in 2017.²¹ However, BAT, JTI and KT&G each had market shares of less than 2% as of 2022.¹⁸

In 2022, the top four brands of cigarette in Indonesia were all kreteks. Gudang Garam has around one-third of the market. Djarum, A Mild and Dji Sam Soe (the latter two both PMI/Sampoerna brands) each have around a one-tenth share. Others, including PMI’s premium cigarette Marlboro, have smaller shares.²⁴

• For more information on the tobacco industry in Indonesia, see the Tobacco Supply Chain Database.

Tobacco farming and child labour

Tobacco is grown in Indonesia almost entirely on small, family-run farms, and 90% of production comes from just three provinces: East Java, Central Java, and West Nusa Tenggara.²⁵

In 2021, Indonesia reported production of over 237,000 tonnes of raw tobacco, making it the fourth largest producer in the world after China, India and Brazil.²⁶ Production has varied since 2010, from a low of less than 127,000 tonnes in 2016 to a high of nearly 270,000 tonnes in 2019. However, the overall trend in recent decades has been upwards, as shown in the graph below:

Figure 1: Tobacco production, 1980 to 2021.²⁷ Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization/Our World in Data | CC BY

The area harvested under tobacco crop also increased by over 30% between 2000 and 2020, to nearly 220,000 hectares.²⁸

A 2017 report by the World Bank found that poverty was widespread amongst tobacco farmers in Indonesia. Nearly three-quarters of tobacco farmers were poor compared to around one-tenth of the general population.²⁹ Most tobacco-farming households received some form of government social assistance, and more than 60% reported food insecurity.²⁹

Research published in 2020 found that Indonesian tobacco farmers would be better off economically if they grew other crops or pursued alternative, non-agricultural livelihoods.³⁰ Tobacco is also vulnerable to adverse weather conditions in comparison to other crops. In 2016, a period of much higher-than-average rainfall, while non-tobacco farmers made a modest income, tobacco farmers’ income was almost zero.³⁰

Tobacco-farming households had significantly higher labour costs than those growing other crops.³¹ Tobacco farmers also used child labour, both hired and household, more frequently compared to those growing other crops.³⁰ Similarly, more children from tobacco farms missed school.³⁰ Farmers reported using child labour because tobacco growing does not usually pay enough to hire adult workers.³⁰

An investigation by The Guardian in 2018 visited the village of Beleke, on the island of Lombok, where it found almost all children above the age of four doing tobacco work during harvest season.³² This followed a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2016, which stated that thousands of children work in tobacco farming in Indonesia. HRW found children engaged in dangerous work in four Indonesian provinces, interviewing more than 130. They reported serious health and safety issues, including acute nicotine poisoning as a result of handling tobacco leaves (also known as green tobacco sickness) and contact with pesticides and other chemicals.²⁵

HRW’s interviews with tobacco farmers and traders revealed a lack of human rights due diligence in the tobacco supply chain in Indonesia, particularly regarding child labour.²⁵ The farmers and traders interviewed supplied large Indonesian and transnational companies including Gudang Garam, Sampoerna, Djarum and Bentoel.²⁵

• For more information on the tobacco industry and child labour, please see the pages on CSR: Child Labour and the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco-Growing Foundation (ECLT).

Tobacco and the economy

Given its high level of tobacco consumption, Indonesia has long been a net importer of tobacco leaf, despite also being a major producer.³¹ In 2022, it imported over US$617 million in raw tobacco, compared to around US$266 million in exports.³³³⁴

However, it is a net exporter of cigarettes: over US$913 million in 2022, compared to US$118 million in imports.³⁵³⁶

In 2020 the WHO reported that the contribution of the tobacco industry to the Indonesian economy was relatively small; tobacco manufacturing generates just 0.6% of total employment, while tobacco farmers represent only 1.6% of the agricultural workforce. Most families involved in tobacco growing and kretek rolling also receive some form of social assistance – meaning that the Indonesian state is essentially subsidising poorly-paid employment in the tobacco industry.³⁷

Illicit trade

A study published in 2019, which collected packs of cigarettes from respondents in Indonesia, found that 20% of the 1,440 smokers surveyed reported ever smoking illicit cigarettes. However, among the 1,201 packs researchers collected, only 20 (i.e. 1.6%) had no excise stamp, a fake excise stamp, or no graphic health warning – and hence were potentially illicit. Price appears to be a factor, with people on lower incomes more likely to purchase illicit cigarettes, though consumption of illicit cigarettes was not found to be a long-term behaviour.³⁸ However, a 2021 study estimated that the share of illicit cigarette consumption in the country increased from 5% in 2013 to 19% in 2018.³⁹

Globally, Free Trade Zones (FTZs) are well known to facilitate the illicit tobacco trade.⁴⁰ There are four FTZs in Indonesia, where cigarette production and trade are exempted from excise duties, making the price much lower. Cigarettes leak from these FTZs, becoming illicit in the process, as the packs bear no excise stamps.⁴¹ In August 2023, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission announced that a senior official from the Bintan Free Trade and Port Zone had been arrested on charges of data manipulation and receiving bribes from cigarette companies, to allow greater flows of duty-free cigarettes through the zone.⁴²

Internal industry documents suggest that historically, BAT has been involved in illicit trade in Indonesia and the broader region.⁴³ A 1994 internal BAT document points to Indonesia – along with Malaysia – as a conduit of illicit products to the Philippines.⁴⁴ A BAT-commissioned study from the 1980s also documented Indonesian consumers’ preference for its smuggled products.⁴⁵

As part of the third round of the Philip Morris International initiative PMI IMPACT, PMI is funding the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, an Indonesian think tank, to “examine the market for NTHRPs [nicotine and tobacco harm reduction products] and how to prevent illicit trade in this growing sector, with research to include surveys and limited group discussions”.⁴⁶

• For more information on PMI IMPACT, please see the following pages: PMI IMPACT, List of Successful PMI IMPACT Applicants and Organisations linked to PMI IMPACT.

Tobacco and the environment

Indonesia is the world’s second-biggest contributor to marine plastic pollution after China, responsible for 1.29 million tonnes of debris entering the ocean annually.⁴⁷ Of this waste, cigarette butts are the most commonly-littered item.⁴⁸ The Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control has estimated the cost of tobacco-related marine pollution and waste management in Indonesia at Rp49 trillion (US$3.1 billion) per year.⁴⁹

• For more information, please see the page on Tobacco and the Environment and the long read on Plastics, the Environment and the Tobacco Industry.

Roadmap to Tobacco Control

Indonesia is not a party to the WHO FCTC, and is therefore ineligible to join the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. As of 2023, there appears to be little political will either to ratify the WHO FCTC or to create a comparable national framework for tobacco control. This has led to a fragmented approach across different government departments and prevented the development of coherent tobacco control policies.¹

However, Indonesia has committed to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) five-year plan on health, under which it has pledged to reaffirm collective positions against industry interference and for implementation of control measures, for both tobacco and alcohol.⁵⁰

In 2009, the passage of Law No. 36 authorised the Ministry of Health to introduce tobacco control regulation, including on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS); smoke-free spaces; and packaging and labelling of tobacco products.⁵¹ This was followed in 2012 by Indonesia’s principal tobacco control law, Government Regulation 109 (PP 109/2012).⁵¹ These laws prohibit smoking on public transport, and in educational facilities and places of worship, though other types of enclosed public spaces, including workplaces, restaurants and government facilities, may provide smoking areas.⁵²⁵³ More stringent regulations at the subnational level are permitted.⁵² As of June 2023, 456 (around 86%) of Indonesia’s 520 cities and districts had adopted smoke-free policies, though implementation remains a challenge.⁵⁴

Indonesia is one of the few countries that still permits tobacco advertising on television, though it may not be broadcast until after 9:30pm.⁵²⁵¹ While Law No. 36 and PP 109/2012 also introduced graphic health warnings (GHWs) on tobacco packaging and banned misleading terms such as “light” and “low-tar”, the law was not retroactive for tobacco products that already had these words in their branding, and other misleading features – such as colours, numbers and symbols – are still permitted.⁵²⁵¹

As of 2024, various other limitations remain. There are no restrictions on internet sales or the sale of individual cigarettes (single sticks); there is no national law regulating the sale, use, advertising, promotion, sponsorship, packaging or labelling of e-cigarettes; and tobacco industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) is still permitted.⁵¹⁵³ Cigarettes in Indonesia also remain relatively cheap. In 2022, the price of the bestselling brand of cigarettes was just over US$2.⁵³

In 2018, President Widodo issued a decree containing a list of government regulations to be revised, which included PP 109/2012.⁵⁵ Tobacco control advocates have seen this as an opportunity to push for stronger regulations, such as larger GHWs, higher excise taxes on cigarettes and a comprehensive ban on TAPS.⁵⁵ However, this process has stalled, amidst conflict between different government ministries and opposition from farmers’ associations and other groups (see section “Use of third parties”).⁵⁵ As of March 2024, the revision of PP 109/2012 had yet to advance.

For more details, please see the following websites:

• Legislation by Country/Jurisdiction – Indonesia, Tobacco Control Laws, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Country profile – Indonesia, World Health Organization, WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2023

Interference in Indonesia by Tobacco Industry and Allies

Tobacco industry tactics in Indonesia include the use of third parties; the targeting of youth with tobacco marketing, both at point of sale and online, as well as via event sponsorship; and sponsorship of popular sports such as badminton and football.

Use of third parties

The tobacco industry has long used third parties and front groups to advance its interests, as a means of achieving greater credibility and overcoming public mistrust.

The Indonesian Tobacco Farmers’ Association (Asosiasi Petani Tembakau Indonesia, APTI), a lobby group, opposes the WHO FCTC, and has urged the Indonesian government not to ratify the treaty.⁵⁶ It has also frequently lobbied against increases in excise taxes on tobacco products. In 2019, APTI held a rally in front of the Ministry of Finance, to demand the repeal of an increase in excise and the retail price of cigarettes, and the revision of a regulation requiring at least 50% of the Tobacco Excise Revenue Sharing Fund to be allocated to health purposes.⁵⁷

APTI has also opposed the proposed revision to Indonesia’s main tobacco control law, PP 109/2012. In 2022, in Temanggung, a major tobacco-growing region in Central Java, APTI representatives were seen at a public event displaying banners asking the local government for support in opposing the proposal.⁵⁸ APTI also sent official letters to President Widodo opposing the revision, stating that it would negatively affect the livelihoods of people working in the tobacco sector, particularly farmers.⁵⁵

Another lobby group which has opposed of any revision of PP 109/2012 is the Indonesian Tobacco Community Alliance (Aliansi Masyarakat Tembakau Indonesia, AMTI), a coalition of tobacco industry stakeholders – including cigarette manufacturers – established in 2010.⁵⁹ It reportedly has close links to the PMI subsidiary Sampoerna.⁶⁰⁶¹ AMTI has sought to portray tobacco control as an agenda imposed on Indonesia by foreign actors who do not understand the local context – a common tobacco industry tactic in the country.⁶²⁶³

Both APTI and AMTI are affiliates of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), a global front group funded and run by the ‘Big Four’ transnational tobacco companies (TTCs), as well as two major leaf merchants.⁶⁴⁶⁵⁶⁶ Though ITGA claims to defend the interests of tobacco farmers and their communities around the world, it uses tobacco farmers as a means of opposing tobacco control regulations and protecting the interests of the TTCs.⁶⁶

Controversial marketing strategies: targeting youth

The tobacco industry has long seen young people as a vital target market; tobacco use generally starts in adolescence. In Indonesia, the mean age of smoking initiation amongst males is 18.3 years, while smoking prevalence amongst Indonesian adolescents (aged 10 to 18) increased from 7% in 2013 to 9% in 2018.⁶⁷⁶⁸

In Indonesia, there is a high concentration of tobacco retailers, high exposure to point-of-sale advertising and no restriction on the display of cigarette packs in retail outlets – all of which are associated with increased tobacco use amongst adolescents.⁵³⁶⁸⁶⁹ In addition, many retailers are located close to schools; enforcement of the ban on sales to minors is very weak; while sales of single sticks, which make smoking more accessible to young people, are still permitted.⁶⁹⁶⁸⁷⁰ Retailers therefore have an important role in recruiting new, young smokers, and maintaining growth of the market.⁶⁸

Indonesia’s incomplete TAPS regulations have also allowed the tobacco industry to switch to less regulated forms of advertising such as event sponsorship and internet marketing, often targeting young people.⁷¹

For example, the popular music festival SoundrenAline, which has been running in Indonesia since 2002, was founded by Sampoerna.⁷² Following a visit to SoundrenAline 2016, researchers reported that Sampoerna branding and the slogan “Go Ahead” were found throughout the festival site. Sampoerna A brand cigarettes were widely sold, including by cigarette girls and boys – a form of direct one-on-one marketing.⁷¹⁷³ Cigarettes that were not a Sampoerna brand were confiscated at the entrance.⁷¹ As of 2022, Sampoerna was still the sponsor of the event and owner of the registered trademark for “SoundrenAline”.⁷²

With over 111 million users, Indonesia has one of the world’s largest Instagram audiences, over half of whom are aged between 13 and 24.⁷⁴ According to the Tobacco Enforcement and Reporting Movement (TERM), as of 2023, around 70% of online tobacco marketing in Indonesia took place on Instagram.⁷⁵⁷⁶ Most of this marketing is indirect and community based. Rather than display their products directly, the tobacco companies build online communities of followers with a common interest such as music, travel or sport, as a means of improving brand visibility and indirectly promoting their products.⁷⁶⁷⁵

Controversial marketing strategies: sponsorship of popular sports

Tobacco industry sponsorship of sport is as old as professional athletic competition itself.⁷⁷ It aims to create links between pre-existing associations people may have with sports (such as fun, excitement, strength, etc.) with tobacco branding and products; promote an image of tobacco use as normal and healthy; and appeal to young people.⁷⁸

In Indonesia, TAPS has historically been very widespread in popular sports.⁷⁹ Badminton, for instance, which the New York Times has described as part of Indonesia’s “national identity”, has long been a vehicle for tobacco industry sponsorship.⁸⁰ From 2006, Djarum was the corporate sponsor of the national badminton trials for children and adolescents aged from 5 to 18.⁸¹ The trials were shown on national television, and participants were required to wear clothing which displayed the Djarum logo.⁶⁸⁸¹

Ten civil society organisations reported Djarum to the National Commission on Child Protection, arguing that the sponsorship violated Indonesia’s child protection law.⁸¹ In 2019, Djarum agreed to remove its logos from the badminton trials.⁸²⁸³ It also withdrew its sponsorship from future trials, which critics argued would undermine development of young talent. However, in 2021 the state-owned telecommunications firm Telkom replaced Djarum as sponsor.⁸¹

Djarum owns the PB Djarum badminton club in Kudus, Central Java, which has a youth academy, as well as a club in Jakarta.⁸⁰⁷⁵⁸⁴ The company also continues to market itself and its products indirectly via Djarum-associated social media accounts which focus on badminton-related content.⁷⁶⁷⁵

An investigation into tobacco marketing on social media in Indonesia, India and Mexico around the 2022 FIFA World Cup found that 92% of the football-themed tobacco marketing originated from Indonesia, with 81% being produced by Djarum alone.⁷⁹

Both Gudang Garam and Djarum, via their respective brands Intersoccer and Super Soccer, sponsored live World Cup viewing parties. Super Soccer, which describes itself as the “home of soccer fans in Indonesia”, promotes its activities on social media to hundreds of thousands of followers.⁷⁹ It developed a “Soccerphoria” event series and campaign specifically for the World Cup, which were heavily promoted across its accounts. As well as the live viewing parties, these events involved mural painting, branded clothes, and limited-edition World Cup cigarette packs designed by local artists.⁷⁹

In 2019, Djarum bought the Italian Serie B club Como 1907, via its subsidiaries SENT Entertainment Ltd and Mola TV. Mola, a television streaming service, has broadcast a reality TV series following 24 young footballers trying to succeed at Como 1907.

• For more on this topic please see the pages on Football Sponsorship and Social Media.

Relevant Links

• Indonesia factsheet, Tobacco Atlas
• Indonesia Tax Scorecard, Tobacconomics
• Dashboard Kawasan Tanpa Rokok [Smoke-Free Area Dashboard], Indonesia Ministry of Health
• Situation reports: Indonesia, Tobacco Enforcement and Reporting Movement, Vital Strategies
• Indonesia, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance
• Front Groups Indonesia, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• Flavoured and Menthol Tobacco in LMICs
• Greenwashing
• Gudang Garam and sports endorsement
• Lobby Groups
• Tobacco Industry Tactics

References

The post Indonesia Country Profile appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Image source: SavoryCrowdad/CC BY-SA 4.0

Key Points

• India is a country located in South Asia, part of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region.
• It had a population in 2022 of 1.42 billion. Amongst those aged 15+, tobacco use prevalence is 28.6%.
• Smoking prevalence in India is 10.7%. However, the most popular form of tobacco in India is smokeless tobacco, with use prevalence of 21.4%.
• India ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004, and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in 2018.
• The Indian cigarette market is dominated by four companies, which together accounted for 98% of sales in 2022. ITC Limited holds by far the largest market share, at over 73%.
• The tobacco industry has deployed a wide range of tactics in India in recent years, including mobilisation of front groups and third parties; litigation against tobacco control measures such as graphic health warnings; and corporate social responsibility, including in partnership with government.

Since the early 2000s, India has made significant progress in tobacco control, introducing a comprehensive tobacco control law in 2004, reducing the affordability of tobacco products, and introducing graphic health warnings (GHWs) consistent with best practice worldwide.⁵¹⁵³ However, major challenges persist. The wide range of tobacco products available in India makes regulation and enforcement particularly complicated. The Indian state is also a major shareholder of ITC Limited, which has by far the largest share of the Indian market. This means that the government has an interest in socio-economic issues – such as ensuring the welfare of farmers and manual labourers working in the Indian tobacco industry, and protection of exports – as well as in public health.⁸⁵

India remains the world’s second largest consumer, producer and exporter of tobacco.⁸⁶⁸⁷

Tobacco Use in India

In 2022, the population of India was 1.42 billion.⁸⁸ In the 2016-17 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), approximately 29% of the population aged 15+ reported current tobacco use – over 42% of males, and over 14% of females.⁵³⁸⁹ This means that in absolute numbers, there were almost 267 million tobacco users in India aged 15 and over.⁸⁶ In the 2019 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), amongst adolescents aged from 13 to 15, 8.5% reported using some form of tobacco – nearly 10% of males, and over 7% of females.⁵³⁹⁰

Amongst India’s smokers, the most popular product was not factory-made cigarettes but bidis: cigarettes rolled by hand in a dried leaf of the tendu tree. 7.7% of Indian adults reported smoking bidis, compared to 4% who smoked cigarettes.⁸⁹

However, the most popular tobacco product in India overall is smokeless tobacco (SLT). More than 21% of Indians aged 15 and over reported being SLT users, compared to less than 11% who smoked, whether cigarettes, bidis, or both.⁵³⁸⁹ SLT use is also significant amongst women and girls: nearly 13% of females aged 15 and over were SLT users, compared to 2% who smoked.⁵³⁸⁹ The majority of female tobacco users in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are SLT users in India and Bangladesh.⁹¹ However, amongst adolescent tobacco users, smoking is more common than SLT use. Over 7% of adolescents reported current smoking, compared to just over 4% who were SLT users.⁵³⁹⁰

India has the second highest number of oral cancer cases globally, accounting for a third of the total.⁹² More than 90% of India’s oral cancer cases are caused by tobacco use and of these, more than half are caused by SLT.⁹³ The poor and less educated are worst affected, with much higher SLT use prevalence amongst these sections of the population.⁹³ There were also over a million deaths attributable to smoking in 2019, accounting for nearly 11% of all mortality in India that year.⁹⁴

A 2020 study put the economic cost of all illness and death attributable to tobacco use between 2017 and 2018 for those over 35 years of age at US$27.5 billion.⁹⁵ Smoking accounted for 74% of this cost; smokeless tobacco 26%.⁹⁵ Direct medical costs alone amounted to 5.3% of all health expenditure.⁹⁵ However, the excise tax revenue from tobacco the previous year was just 12.2% of its economic cost.⁹⁵ In simple terms, the economic burden of tobacco use is more than eight times the value of revenue the Indian government receives in excise from tobacco products.⁹⁵ This economic burden accounts for over 1% of India’s GDP.⁹⁵

Tobacco in India

Market share and leading brands

The Indian cigarette market is dominated by four companies:  ITC Limited, Godfrey Phillips India Limited (GPI), VST Industries Ltd., and Philip Morris International (PMI), which together accounted for 98% of sales in 2022.¹⁸

India banned foreign direct investment in tobacco manufacturing in 2010, which means that the transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) can only access the Indian market via shareholdings and licensing agreements with local producers.⁹⁶⁹⁷

ITC Limited

ITC Limited (formerly India Tobacco Company Limited), dominates the Indian tobacco market, with a share of over 73% in 2022.¹⁸ Its largest shareholder is British American Tobacco (BAT), which held just under 30% of shares until March 2024.⁹⁸⁹⁹ The Indian state is also a major shareholder, via various state-owned insurance corporations and investment portfolios.⁹⁹ Its products include India’s three bestselling brands of cigarettes: Gold Flake, Wills and Scissors.¹⁰⁰

In a presentation to investors in June 2023, BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco stressed the importance of the company retaining at least a 25% shareholding in ITC, given that this provides BAT with seats on the ITC board and the right to veto company resolutions.¹⁰¹ Marroco also highlighted the potential of the vast Indian market in terms of newer nicotine and tobacco products, particularly oral products such as nicotine pouches.¹⁰¹ In March 2024, BAT reduced its holdings in ITC to 25.5%.¹⁰²For more details see ITC Limited.

Godfrey Phillips India Limited (GPI)

GPI had a market share of almost 10% in 2022, the second largest after ITC.¹⁸ PMI is the second-largest shareholder with a stake of just over 25%.¹⁰³ Major brands include Four Square, Cavenders and Tipper.¹⁰⁰

VST Industries Ltd

VST, formerly Vazir Sultan Tobacco Company, had a market share of over 9% in 2022, the third largest.¹⁸ With a stake of over 32%, BAT is its largest shareholder.¹⁰⁴ Its major brands include Total, Charms and Charminar.¹⁰⁰

TTCs’ licensing agreements

PMI has a licensing agreement with GPI, under which GPI manufactures and sells the brands Marlboro and Red & White in India, though PMI retains brand ownership internationally.^18100105 This gives PMI a 5.4% market share from a global ownership perspective.¹⁸ Similarly, ITC manufactures and sells the brands Berkeley and Benson & Hedges in India, though Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco are the global owners, respectively.¹⁸¹⁰⁰ Both companies have a market share of less than 2%.¹⁸

• For more information on the tobacco industry in India, please see the Tobacco Supply Chain Database.

Smokeless tobacco and bidis

The Indian smokeless tobacco industry is based largely on small scale, rural production, for which accurate data is not available.¹⁰⁶ Local manufacturers account for significant segments of the market in several regions of India.¹⁰⁶ Similarly, bidi production depends largely on small home-based manufacturing operations and accurate data is not available.¹⁰⁶

At the national level, the biggest companies in the chewing tobacco/gutkha (see section “Undermining the gutkha ban”) market are believed to be Dhariwal Industries, Dharampal Satyapal (DS Group) and Som Sugandh Industries, which together accounted for around a quarter of sales in 2010.¹⁰⁶ There is also interest from the big cigarette companies in smokeless tobacco; Godfrey Phillips launched its own range of chewing products in 2010.¹⁰⁷ A 2021 paper found that 93% of SLT products bought in India were non-compliant with packaging regulations: either they did not have graphic health warnings, or the warnings were too small.¹⁰⁸

Tobacco farming

India is the world’s second biggest tobacco producer after China, producing over 766,000 tonnes of leaf in 2020.¹⁰⁹ This accounts for 9% of all global production.⁸⁷ Though tobacco production in India has increased significantly in recent decades – from 438,500 tonnes in 1980 – it has fallen slightly from a high of 830,000 tonnes in 2011.¹¹⁰

Child labour

Indian bidis feature on the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2022 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.¹¹¹ While information on child labour in the bidi industry is not widely available, a study published in 2009 found that more than 1.7 million children worked rolling bidis in India.¹¹² This disproportionately affects girls, who are often drawn into the industry to support their families. Bidi rollers may work 10 to 14-hour days to produce over 1,000 bidis, in what a BBC report from 2012 described as “slave-like working conditions”.¹¹²

Tobacco and the economy

India is the world’s second largest exporter of tobacco leaf, after Brazil.⁸⁷ According to UN Comtrade, India exported nearly US$816 million in raw tobacco in 2022, compared to nearly $21 million in imports.¹¹³¹¹⁴ Export figures for 2021-2022 from the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) – a trust established by the Indian Department of Commerce – were slightly higher, at US$842 million.⁸⁷

India exports tobacco to more than 115 countries around the world, the biggest recipient of which is Belgium, which accounts for around 18% of India’s total tobacco exports. Other major export destinations for Indian tobacco include the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and the United States.⁸⁷

India is also a major net exporter of cigarettes. According to UN Comtrade, it exported over US$100 million in cigarettes in 2022, compared to nearly $26 million in imports.¹¹⁵¹¹⁶

According to IBEF, the tobacco industry in India employs about 36 million people in farming, processing, manufacturing and export activities.⁸⁷

Illicit trade

The Tobacco Institute of India, an industry body established by ITC, GPI and VST in 1992, puts the scale of the illicit tobacco trade at a quarter of the market.¹¹⁷ However, independent studies put that figure much lower, at around 3% to 6%.¹¹⁸ This makes illicit trade in India relatively small by global standards.¹¹⁹ A 2018 study, which found that 2.73% of the empty cigarette packs collected in India were illicit, noted significant differences across the country.¹²⁰ Areas with greater illicit trade penetration are often targeted by studies funded by the tobacco industry to exaggerate overall levels of illicit trade.¹²¹

Studies have also cast doubt on industry claims that tobacco tax increases have led to expansion of illicit trade. For example, according to ITC, tax increases during the period 2012 to 2017 resulted in rapid growth of illicit trade, making India the fourth largest illicit market globally.¹²² However, a study published in 2020 by experts from the WHO and the Indian government put the illicit cigarette trade at 6% of the market in 2016-17 – an increase of just 0.9% from 2009-10.¹¹⁹

Similarly, a joint report published in 2017 by the accountancy firm KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) argued that illicit trade – driven in part by higher taxes on cigarettes – was providing funds for terrorism and organized crime.¹²³ However, both ITC and GPI are members of FICCI, which has a history of opposing tobacco control measures in India (see Influencing policy: graphic health warnings). Similarly, KPMG has strong ties with the tobacco industry going back decades, and its work on illicit trade has been strongly criticised elsewhere. Critics argue that KPMG’s research has exaggerated the scale of illicit trade and has been used to oppose tobacco control regulations such as plain packaging.

• For more information, please see STOP’s database of Tobacco Industry Allies.

Tobacco and the environment

A 2018 study estimated that in order to produce 100 billion cigarettes, nearly 67,500 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent were emitted in India in 2010 – the equivalent of 14,544 petrol-powered vehicles driven for a year.¹²⁴¹²⁵ The industry has also been a major cause of deforestation: it is estimated that 680 square kilometres of scrub forest were destroyed and degraded for tobacco curing and the manufacture of cigarettes and other smoking consumables between 1962 and 2002.¹²⁶

A 2022 study estimated that 170,000 tonnes of waste is produced by the packaging of tobacco products annually in India, two-thirds of which correspond to smokeless tobacco (SLT) products.¹²⁷ Analysis of segregated waste revealed that 73,500 tonnes of plastic, 6,100 tonnes of foil and 1,350 tonnes of used filters are discharged annually into the environment.¹²⁷ Cleaning up this waste costs Indian taxpayers roughly US$766 million every year.¹²⁸

• For more information on the tobacco industry in India, please see the Tobacco Supply Chain Database.

Roadmap to Tobacco Control

India was the eighth country to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2004.¹²⁹ It ratified the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in 2018.¹³⁰¹³¹

The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), passed in 2003, is the main comprehensive tobacco control law in India. Amongst other provisions, it banned smoking in most public places, prohibited the advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products, and banned sales to anyone under the age of 18.¹³² Since then, a number of rules have been introduced to aid implementation of COTPA and provide definitions.⁵¹ In 2007-08, the government launched the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), which aimed to reinforce COTPA and facilitate implementation of the tobacco control strategies contained within the WHO FCTC.¹³³

In 2020, an amendment to COTPA was drafted by the Ministry of Health.¹³⁴ Aiming to further strengthen the original legislation and boost compliance with WHO FCTC, it will abolish designated smoking areas, prohibit the sale of individual cigarettes (single sticks), and raise the legal age required for purchase of tobacco products from 18 to 21.¹³⁴¹³⁵ However, as of September 2023, this amendment has yet to become law.

Citing concerns about the health impacts of vaping on young people, the Indian government introduced a ban on electronic cigarettes in 2019. The law prohibits the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement of e-cigarettes.⁵¹¹³⁶ Though their use remains rare in India as of 2023, the law closes off a huge potential market for e-cigarette companies.¹³⁷

For more details, please see the following websites:

• Legislation by country – India, Tobacco Control Laws, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
• India, WHO FCTC Implementation Database, WHO FCTC Secretariat
• Country profile – India, World Health Organization, WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2021

Tobacco Industry Interference in India

Tobacco industry tactics in India include mobilisation of front groups and third parties; litigation against tobacco control measures, such as graphic health warnings; and corporate social responsibility, including in partnership with government.

Delaying rollout of larger graphic health warnings

In October 2014, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced its intention to increase the area covered by graphic health warnings (GHWs) on tobacco products, from 40% to 85%.¹³⁸ GHWs are a well-established, evidence-based and cost-effective measure of reducing tobacco use.¹³⁹ They may also be particularly effective in India, given both the country’s linguistic diversity and its literacy rate (as of 2018, over a quarter of the population was unable to read or write).¹⁴⁰¹⁴¹

The tobacco industry deployed various tactics in an attempt to block this legislation. These included mobilising third parties and front groups, spreading misleading information, and submitting more than 30 legal challenges in state-level courts throughout India.¹⁴²¹⁴³

Third parties and front groups which mobilised against the legislation included the following:

• The All India Bidi Federation
• The Tobacco Institute of India
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
• The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
• The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
• The Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA)
• The Retailers Association of India (RAI)
• The International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA)

These groups wrote letters to and met with policy makers, launched campaigns in the media against the proposal, and filed legal challenges.¹⁴²¹⁴³

For example, FAIFA bought full-page advertisements in leading national newspapers, claiming that larger GHWs would be detrimental to the livelihoods of tobacco farmers and fuel the illicit trade.¹⁴²¹⁴⁴ FAIFA, CII and FICCI all wrote letters to the Minister of Health, J.P. Nadda, echoing these arguments.¹⁴⁵¹⁴⁶ The Tobacco Institute of India filed a legal challenge against the government in the High Court of Karnataka.¹⁴⁷ Finally, ASSOCHAM addressed a communiqué to the government, stating that the GHWs would endanger the livelihoods of more than 45 million people and lead to a flood of illicit imports.¹⁴⁸

These industry strategies succeeded in delaying the rollout of the 85% GHWs for a year, from April 2015 until April 2016.¹⁴⁹ However, the legal challenges continued even after implementation. In 2017, the High Court of Karnataka ruled that India should revert to the pre-2016 40% warnings. This decision was overruled in 2018 by the Indian Supreme Court and the 85% warnings have remained in force ever since.¹⁴³

The eventual introduction of the 85% GHWs saw India jump from 136^th to third position in the global ranking for size of health warnings on tobacco products.¹⁵⁰

Undermining the gutkha ban

Gutkha, one of India’s most popular smokeless tobacco (SLT) products, is a mix of crushed Areca nut (a well-known risk factor for several cancers even when consumed without tobacco), with tobacco, catechu, paraffin, slaked lime and flavourings.¹⁵¹¹⁵² Highly addictive and very cheap, gutkha is popular amongst women and young people.¹⁵³

Since 2012, there have been state-level bans throughout the country in an attempt to reduce its prevalence, but it remains widely available.¹⁵⁴¹⁵⁵ Producers have found ways to circumvent the bans, such as by packaging and selling the constituent ingredients of gutkha separately.¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁶

In the state of Tamil Nadu, gutkha remained widely available despite being banned in 2013.¹⁵⁷¹⁵⁸ In 2016, officials from India’s Income Tax Department discovered details of a series of suspected bribes worth nearly US$6 million made by leading manufacturer MDM to public officials, allegedly to facilitate the storage, transport and sale of gutkha.^142157159

Alleged recipients of bribes included a government minister, police officers and senior civil servants.¹⁶⁰ In November 2022, after four years of investigations in three states, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation filed charges against 21 individuals.¹⁶⁰¹⁵⁷

Corporate social responsibility: partnerships with government

Tobacco companies often use corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to enhance their public image and corporate reputation.

In the implementation guidelines for Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, the WHO states that these activities fall within its definition of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship – and should therefore not be endorsed by Parties to the treaty.¹⁶¹ However, in India, under the Companies Act 2013, all large corporations are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit in the previous three years on CSR.¹⁶² This helps to legitimise tobacco industry CSR, as companies argue they are only fulfilling their legal duties.⁸⁵In its sustainability reporting, ITC states that its CSR initiatives fall within the scope of the 2013 legislation.¹⁶³

ITC has contributed frequently to government programmes and has worked with government institutions.⁸⁵ For example, in 2017, ITC contributed to a fund set up by the Indian government to attract funding from corporations and private donors for the provision of sanitation and clean drinking water; and to the Clean Ganga Fund, established by the government to rehabilitate the River Ganges.¹⁶³ In his speech to shareholders at the 2017 AGM, the then ITC CEO cited several public-private partnerships with state governments in India on water management projects, stating that they aligned with a national programme which aimed to expand irrigation coverage and improve efficiency of water use.¹⁶⁴¹⁶⁵

This type of public-private CSR was particularly widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, between March and June 2020, the Indian tobacco industry contributed around US$36.7 million in donations to various government funds, both at federal and state level.¹⁶² The industry also partnered with other stakeholders, including NGOs, other private sector actors and even popular Bollywood singers. ITC was the biggest cash and in-kind contributor.¹⁶²¹⁶⁶

Corporate trademarks were widely visible during these CSR activities, and the initiatives were publicised in leading newspapers and by senior politicians.^162167168

• For more on tobacco industry activity during the pandemic, please see the COVID-19 Tobacco Tactics page and the COVID-19 monitoring database.

Relevant Links

• Global Adult Tobacco Survey GATS 2 India 2016-17, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
• Report on Tobacco Industry Interference in India – Case Studies, S. Goel, S. Sekhar Kar, Resource Centre for Tobacco Control
• Interference by Big Tobacco and Affiliates in Tobacco Control in South Asia, Institute of Public Health Bengaluru and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
• Crooked Nine: Nine Ways the Tobacco Industry Undermines Health Policy, Vital Strategies
• National Report: The Environmental Burden of Tobacco Products Wastes in India. Tobacco Use Makes You Ugly, Your Habitat Uglier, SPH AIIMS Jodhpur, ICMR-NICPR, The Union

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
• Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
• ITC Limited

TCRG Research

• Advancing whole-of-government approaches to tobacco control: Article 5.3 and the challenge of policy coordination in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Uganda. R.A. Barry, S.M. Abdullah, A. Chugh, S. Hirpa, P. Kumar, D. Male, R. Ralston, T. Wagner-Rizvi, J. Collin, Tobacco Control 2022;31:s46-s52.
• Institutional tensions, corporate social responsibility and district-level governance of tobacco industry interference: analysing challenges in local implementation of Article 5.3 measures in Karnataka, India. P. Kumar, R.A. Barry, M.M. Kulkarni, V.G. Kamath, R. Ralston, J. Collin, Tobacco Control 2022;31:s26-s32.
• Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries, B.K. Matthes, K. Lauber, M. Zatoński, L. Robertson, A.B. Gilmore, BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004096.

For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to TCRG publications.

References

The post India Country Profile appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Key Points

• Bangladesh is a country in South Asia, part of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region.
• It has a population of 171.2 million, with tobacco use prevalence of 43.7%.
• Smoking prevalence is high, at 23.5%. However, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use prevalence is even higher, at 27.5%.
• Bangladesh ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2004. It has not ratified the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
• The Bangladeshi cigarette market is dominated by British American Tobacco Bangladesh, followed by Japan Tobacco International’s local subsidiary United Dhaka Tobacco Company Limited. There are also local cigarette, bidi and SLT producers.
• Recent tobacco industry tactics in Bangladesh include direct lobbying of civil servants, which successfully obtained an exemption to lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic; using diplomats to lobby in its interests; and the mobilisation of third-party organisations against tobacco control.

In 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared her intention to make Bangladesh tobacco free by 2040.¹⁶⁹ Bangladesh has in recent years increased its compliance with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), created a dedicated tobacco control cell and introduced a health surcharge on all tobacco products.¹⁶⁹¹⁷⁰ However, according to a study published in 2022, no measures have been adopted to implement Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC.¹⁷¹ Industry interference in public policy – particularly by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), in which the state holds a share of over 9% – is an ongoing challenge.¹⁷¹¹⁷² The study’s authors argue that progress in minimising such interference is essential if the commitment to a creating a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040 is to be met.¹⁷¹

Tobacco Use in Bangladesh

In 2022, the population of Bangladesh was 171.2 million.¹⁷³ Among adults aged from 18 to 69, overall tobacco use prevalence was nearly 44% as of 2018 (almost 60% of men and over 28% of women).¹⁷⁴

As of 2018, 23.5% of Bangladeshi adults smoked.¹⁷⁴ Cigarettes were the most popular product: amongst current tobacco smokers, over 99% reported using cigarettes, compared to 32.5% who reported smoking bidis (cigarettes rolled by hand in a dried leaf of the tendu tree).¹⁷⁴ There was a major gender difference, with nearly 47% of men reporting current smoking at the time of the survey, compared to 1% of women.¹⁷⁴

At 27.5%, smokeless tobacco (SLT) use is even more common than smoked tobacco.¹⁷⁴ This is due in part to the high prevalence of SLT use amongst Bangladeshi women. Over 28% of Bangladeshi women used SLT, compared to nearly 27% of men.¹⁷⁴Most female tobacco users in low- and middle-income countries are SLT users in India and Bangladesh.¹⁷⁵ Popular SLT products include betel quid with zarda, betel quid with sadapata, pan masala with tobacco and gul.¹⁷⁴

Amongst adolescents aged from 13 to 17, nearly 10% used tobacco in some form as of 2014, with almost 14% of boys using tobacco compared to 2% of girls.¹⁷⁶ The rate for cigarette smoking was nearly 8%, with 11% of boys smoking compared to 1.5% of girls.¹⁷⁶

There were an estimated 106,000 deaths attributable to smoking in 2019, accounting for over 12% of all mortality in Bangladesh that year.¹⁷⁷ The total annual cost of tobacco use in Bangladesh was estimated at BDT৳305.6 billion (US$3.6 billion) in 2018, which was equivalent to 1.4% of GDP in 2017-18.¹⁷⁸ Direct healthcare costs accounted for BDT৳83.9 billion, of which 24% was covered by public health expenditure. This is a significant outlay, representing 8.9% of the healthcare budget in 2018-19.¹⁷⁸ However, most of the costs attributable to tobacco use – both direct and indirect – are borne by tobacco users and their families.¹⁷⁸ While the economic contribution of the tobacco industry to Bangladeshi GDP was estimated at BDT৳229.11 billion ($US2.7 billion) in 2018, this was still BDT৳76.54 billion (US$911 million) less than the annual costs attributable to tobacco use. Tobacco therefore results in a net loss to the Bangladeshi economy.¹⁷⁸¹⁷⁹

Tobacco in Bangladesh

Market share and leading brands

In 2022, market research company Euromonitor International estimated the Bangladeshi tobacco market to be worth nearly BDT৳420 billion – over US$4.5 billion.¹⁸⁰¹⁸¹

British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) dominates the Bangladeshi tobacco market, with a market share of over 84.5% in 2022.¹⁸ Its portfolio includes the three bestselling brands of cigarette in the country: Royal, Derby and Hollywood.¹⁰⁰ The Bangladeshi state holds a stake of more than 9% in BATB, both directly, and through two state-owned assets.¹⁷²

BATB’s closest competitor is Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which has a market share of over 9% following its 2018 acquisition of the United Dhaka Tobacco Company Limited (UDTCL), the tobacco business of the Akij Group conglomerate.^18182183 Its leading brands are Sheikh and Navy.¹⁰⁰

Smaller domestic companies include Abul Khair Tobacco Company, Alpha Tobacco Manufacturing Company and Nasir Tobacco Industries Ltd.¹⁸⁴

• For more information on the tobacco industry in Bangladesh, please see the Tobacco Supply Chain Database.

Smokeless tobacco and bidis

Accurate, up-to-date information on the SLT industry in Bangladesh is scarce. SLT producers are mostly home based and work informally, which makes for a fragmented market.¹⁸⁵¹⁸⁶ However, larger companies include Kaus Chemical Works, which sells Hakimpuri Zarda, one of the most popular zarda products (made of dried and boiled tobacco leaves, lime, areca nut, additives, tannins and spices) in the country; and Baba Al-Tajer Dhaka.^185187188

Similarly, reliable and up-to-date information about bidi production is not available. However, a 2012 investigation found 117 bidi factories spread throughout the country.¹⁸⁹ The leading bidi company in Bangladesh is the Akiz Bidi Company; others include Aziz Bidi, Maya Bidi and Bangla Bidi.¹⁹⁰

Tobacco farming

Large-scale tobacco agriculture began in Bangladesh following independence in 1971, when BATB began growing in the greater Rangpur area.¹⁹¹ Today, tobacco is grown throughout the country, with significant tobacco-growing regions including Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kushtia, Manikganj, Tangail, Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar.¹⁹¹

Bangladeshi tobacco production was steady at around 40,000 tonnes annually from the late 1970s until 2009, at which point it began to increase rapidly, peaking at just under 130,000 tonnes in 2019.¹⁹² In 2020 Bangladesh declared nearly 86,000 tonnes, making it the 12^th largest tobacco producer in the world.¹⁹²¹⁹³

Child labour

Human rights organisations have documented child labour in tobacco fields in Bangladesh.¹⁹⁴ In 2020, a video report published by Unfairtobacco and Bangladeshi NGO UBINIG showed children missing school in order to help their families with the tobacco harvest.¹⁹⁵ Another video report documented the impacts of tobacco farming on Bangladeshi women, including the challenge of combining long hours working on the harvest with domestic tasks; negative health effects, including respiratory problems, fevers, and loss of appetite; as well as poor economic returns.¹⁹⁶

In 2016, the Swedish NGO Swedwatch published a report based on research in three leaf cultivation areas which supply BATB.¹⁹⁷ It documented widespread child labour and negative impacts on the health and wellbeing of farm labourers, both children and adults.¹⁹⁷ It also showed how the use of flawed contracts and uncertain promises contributed to over-indebtedness and trapped many farmers in poverty.¹⁹⁷ In response, BAT conducted an internal review which, according to the company, “did not raise any significant concerns and indicated that the report as a whole is not representative of the reality on the ground.”¹⁹⁸ A subsequent investigation BAT commissioned to consulting firm DNV GL supported its internal review.¹⁹⁹

Bangladeshi bidis feature on the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2022 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.²⁰⁰ It is estimated that at least half of the workforce in the Bangladeshi bidi industry is aged between 4 and 14; average wages are between US$0.77 and US$1.57 per day.¹⁹⁰ A 2012 investigation found that most bidi workers were women and children.¹⁸⁹ According to several workers, managers and people in communities around the bidi factories surveyed, this is because their labour is much cheaper and they are less capable of organising for higher wages or better working conditions.¹⁸⁹

• For information on tobacco industry responses to accusations of complicity in child labour, please see the pages on CSR: Child Labour and the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco-Growing Foundation (ECLT).

Tobacco and the economy

Bangladesh is a net exporter of tobacco. In 2015, the last year for which data is currently available from UN Comtrade (as of September 2023), Bangladesh exported US$43.5 million in raw tobacco, compared to just over US$8 million in imports.²⁰¹²⁰² However, it is a net importer of factory-made cigarettes. The same year, it imported over US$3 million in cigarettes, compared to just over US$354,000 in exports.²⁰³²⁰⁴

Illicit trade

A World Bank report published in 2019 found that Bangladesh had a low estimated incidence of illicit trade in cigarettes (2%), compared to estimated global rates of 10-12%.²⁰⁵ According to the report, annual revenue losses from the illicit cigarette trade are about US$100 million, around 4% of total tobacco revenues.²⁰⁵ Bangladesh has strong legal and institutional structures to combat illicit trade, including a cigarette stamp and banderol system to ensure compliance with taxation, robust law enforcement and stiff penalties for smuggling.²⁰⁵

Though the illicit bidi trade is likely to be larger than that for cigarettes, revenue loss has so far been low given that bidis were barely taxed at all until recently.²⁰⁵ The illicit trade in smokeless tobacco is also likely to be significant, though in the absence of any track and trace system or even tax stamps on SLT products, it is impossible to estimate the illicit share of the SLT market accurately.¹⁸⁵ A 2022 study found that “Almost all ST [smokeless tobacco] products bought in Bangladesh (…) were non-compliant with the local packaging requirements and hence potentially illicit”.¹⁸⁵

Tobacco and the environment

A 2020 study found various forms of contamination due to tobacco growing in Bangladesh, both in the soil and in nearby water sources. The most important parameter found to be significantly higher in tobacco-growing land was the pesticide aldicarb.¹⁹³ Classified as “extremely hazardous” by the WHO, this chemical is banned in 125 countries, though its use remains widespread.²⁰⁶ The same study calculated the environmental cost of tobacco curing (due to carbon emissions) at US$310 per acre used for tobacco cultivation.¹⁹³

Another report stated that contamination of water and soil by tobacco farming is endangering the livelihoods of nearly 800,000 people in the Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar districts who depend on the Matamuhuri river for fishing and cultivation of food crops.²⁰⁷ Swedwatch also documented deforestation and forest degradation linked to farms in Bandarban and Chakoria which supply BATB.¹⁹⁷ It alleged that BATB has contributed to these problems by failing to prevent sourcing of fuel wood from natural forests and by supporting the construction of kilns in forest areas.¹⁹⁷

• For more information on the tobacco industry in Bangladesh, please see the Tobacco Supply Chain Database.

Roadmap to Tobacco Control

Bangladesh was the first country to sign the WHO FCTC on 16 June 2003.²⁰⁸ It ratified the treaty a year later.²⁰⁹ However, it has not signed the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.²¹⁰

The Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Act (2005) is the principal law governing tobacco control in Bangladesh. The Act is comprehensive and covers smokefree spaces; tobacco advertising; the sale of tobacco to and by minors; and the packaging and labelling of tobacco products, among other areas.⁵¹ However, the law had some major limitations. For example, it mandated only textual health warnings on smoked tobacco products, which is problematic in Bangladesh given the popularity of smokeless tobacco.²¹¹ Similarly, although it banned advertising of tobacco products, it did not comprehensively cover sponsorship.²¹¹

The Act was amended in 2013 and implementation rules were introduced in 2015, increasing compliance with the WHO FCTC. However, the industry was given a 12-month transition period to fully comply.²¹¹ Even then, industry interference – principally by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) – has succeeded in delaying full implementation of the Amendment.²¹¹ For example, though the Amendment mandated graphic health warnings (GHWs) on the upper half of all tobacco packaging, as of May 2022 – over seven years since the implementation rules were first published in the country’s official gazette – GHWs were still printed on the lower half of tobacco products.²¹¹ Though this is considered a complete measure by the WHO, it means that the GHWs may be less visible to many Bangladeshi consumers. This is because tobacco products are often sold by mobile sellers out of steel trays which cover the lower half of the products.²¹¹

Other major loopholes remain. Designated smoking areas are still permitted in certain public places; there are no restrictions on the sale of individual cigarettes (single sticks), small packets of cigarettes, or tobacco products via the internet; and there are no restrictions on use, advertising, promotion and sponsorship, or packaging and labelling of e-cigarettes.⁵¹

However, as of June 2022, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) was preparing a new amendment to the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Act, which contains a number of global best practices.²¹² If passed, it would eliminate designated smoking areas; ban corporate social responsibility (CSR) by tobacco companies; ban the sale of single sticks; ban the display of tobacco products at points of sale; and increase the size of graphic health warnings (GHWs) on tobacco products from 50% to 90%.²¹² It also aims to ban the sale of e-cigarettes.²¹²

In 2015, the Bangladeshi government began to levy a 1% Health Development Surcharge (HDS) on all tobacco products, which brings in around US$71 million a year, designed to support key government health initiatives including tobacco control.²¹³ However, this funding has not always been easily accessible to the MoHFW. As of March 2021, the National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), which sits within the MoHFW, was working on a long-term tobacco control programme which would have smoother access to HDS funding.²¹³

For more details, please see the following websites:

• Legislation by country – Bangladesh, Tobacco Control Laws, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
• Bangladesh, WHO FCTC Implementation Database, WHO FCTC Secretariat
• Country profile – Bangladesh, World Health Organization, WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2021

Tobacco Industry Interference in Bangladesh

Recent tobacco industry tactics in Bangladesh include direct lobbying of civil servants, which successfully obtained an exemption to lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic; using diplomats to lobby in its interests; and the mobilisation of third-party organisations against tobacco control.

Influencing policy: conflicts of interest

According to a study published in 2022, no measures have been adopted to implement Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC in Bangladesh.¹⁷¹ The tobacco industry continues to influence policymaking, particularly BATB, in which the government holds a share of over 9%.¹⁷¹¹⁷²

This incident also demonstrates how much the tobacco industry (particularly BATB) is connected with government in Bangladesh.¹⁷¹ The Secretary at the MoI, who granted the lockdown exemptions to BATB and UDTCL, simultaneously had a seat on the BATB board as a non-executive director.¹⁷¹ This arrangement between the MoI and BATB appears to date back to at least 2010.²¹⁹

Several other senior civil servants also sit as independent or non-executive members on the BATB board, including a secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office.^220221222219

A study published in 2022 stressed that the presence of senior government officials on the BATB board leads both to individual and institutional conflicts of interest.¹⁷¹ However, a former Secretary at the MoI has denied this, stating that tobacco control is not discussed at BATB board meetings.²²³

• For more on tobacco industry activity during the pandemic, please see the COVID-19 Tobacco Tactics page and the COVID-19 monitoring database.

Influencing policy: lobbying by diplomats

There have also been cases of lobbying of Bangladeshi authorities by foreign diplomats on behalf of the two main transnational tobacco companies operating in the country. In 2017, the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh intervened on behalf of BATB in a tax dispute between BATB and the NBR. Similarly, in 2021, the Japanese Ambassador sent a letter to the Bangladeshi Finance Minister criticising tax reforms which had impacted JTI, as well as restrictions on the marketing and sale of certain JTI products. The letter also complained of “anti-competitive” behaviour, alluding to BATB’s domination of the Bangladeshi tobacco market.

• For more information, please see the pages on UK Diplomats Lobbying for BAT: Bangladesh and Japanese Diplomats Lobbying for JTI.

Use of third parties

In June 2022, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) published another draft amendment to the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Act (2005) – Bangladesh’s main tobacco control law – and asked for input from relevant stakeholders (see section Roadmap to Tobacco Control).²²⁴

In response, the MoHFW received letters criticising the amendment from various trade associations, including the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), both of which have tobacco industry links.²²⁵²²⁶

In July 2022, a “policy dialogue” event – widely reported in the press – was held at a five-star hotel in Dhaka by the Intellectual Property Association of Bangladesh (IPAB). Speakers argued the amendment would reduce tax revenue, increase illicit trade and threaten livelihoods, reportedly describing it as “unrealistic”, “unimplementable” and “counterproductive”.²²⁷ On its website, IPAB lists BATB among its corporate members, from which it acknowledges receiving “extensive support”, and two members of IPAB’s executive committee also hold senior positions at BATB.^228229230231

Another participant at the event was the executive director of FICCI, which lists BATB, Philip Morris Bangladesh and United Dhaka Tobacco Company Ltd (UDTCL) as member organisations.^227232233234 FICCI also includes tobacco industry executives on its board of directors, including the managing director of UDTCL, author of the letter to the Ministry of Industries requesting an exemption from COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 (see Influencing policy: conflicts of interest).²¹⁶²³⁵

A 2018 investigation by the public health NGO PROGGA concluded that BATB’s infiltration of influential business and trade organisations constituted a major barrier to greater tobacco control in Bangladesh.²³⁶

• For more information on business organisations in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries see Trade Associations.

Relevant Links

• Live: Tobacco Industry Interference on Amendment of Tobacco Control Law 2022, Center for Research and Advocacy to Fight Tobacco
• National STEPS Survey for Non-communicable Diseases Risk Factors in Bangladesh 2018, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM)
• The economic cost of tobacco use in Bangladesh: A health cost approach, Bangladesh Cancer Society

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• South East Asian Region
• Trade Associations
• Greenwashing

TCRG Research

• Tobacco industry interference to undermine the development and implementation of graphic health warnings in Bangladesh, M.H. Shahriar, M.M. Hasan, M.S. Alam, B.K. Matthes, A.B. Gilmore, A.B.M. Zubair, Tobacco Control, 2023, doi: 10.1136/tc-2022-057538
• Achieving a tobacco-free Bangladesh by 2040: a qualitative analysis of the tobacco advertising environment and prohibitions in Bangladesh, A. Tselengidis, S. Adams, B. Freeman, S.M. Alam, P.A.S. Astuti, J. Cranwell, BMJ Open 2023;13:e069620, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069620
• Advancing whole-of-government approaches to tobacco control: Article 5.3 and the challenge of policy coordination in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Uganda, R. Barry, S.M. Abdullah, A. Chugh, S. Hirpa, P. Kumar, D. Male, R. Ralston, T. Wagner-Rizvi, J. Collin, Tobacco Control, 2022;31:s46-s52
• Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries, B.K. Matthes, K. Lauber, M. Zatoński, L. Robertson, A.B. Gilmore, BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004096.
• Estimating the magnitude of illicit cigarette trade in Bangladesh: protocol for a mixed-methods study, S. Abjullah, R. Huque, L. Bauld, H. Ross, A. Gilmore, R.M. John, K. Siddiqi, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(13), 4791

For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to TCRG publications.

References

The post Bangladesh Country Profile appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

In 2009, several retail groups and tobacco companies operating in Hong Kong came together to establish the Tobacco Control Concern Group (TCCG).^237238239

TCCG has lobbied the government on tobacco control issues, and has echoed well known industry arguments against taxation, including that increased tax fuels illicit tobacco trade.²⁴⁰²³⁷

TCCG retail association members include the Coalition of Hong Kong Newspaper and Magazine Merchants.²³⁹

Relationship with the tobacco industry

Tobacco companies reported to be part of TCCG include British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Hong Kong Federation of Tobacco Industries Limited, and Pacific Cigar Company.²³⁹

Lobbying against tobacco tax increases

In 2009, TCCG lobbied the government to lower tobacco taxes, claiming that recent tax increases had failed to stop people from smoking and instead promoted the sale of illicit cigarettes, causing a drop in tobacco business.²³⁷ However, a customs spokesperson noted that cigarette seizures had dropped, and there was no evidence of a growing trend in the sales of illicit cigarettes.²³⁷ The tobacco industry often uses the argument that increases in tobacco tax will result in an increase in illicit trade.

In 2011, it was reported that TCCG had urged the government to reduce cigarette tax to a “more reasonable level”, stating that “Raising cigarette taxes has been proved to be an ineffective way to help people to quit smoking” and again citing a supposed risk of illicit trade.²⁴⁰²³⁷

TCCG also submitted a document to the legislative council on this issue.²³⁸ This stated that an independent survey had found that the public “strongly opposed the raising of tobacco tax”[translation],²³⁸ and again repeated the argument that tax increases would not prevent youth smoking, and instead would lead to increases smuggling:

“it is unpractical to push them to give up smoking by substantially raising tobacco tax…poorer students will smoke illicit cigarettes”[translation].²³⁸

Research has shown that smoking rates in Hong Kong declined between 2009 and 2011, after tobacco tax increases in 2009.²⁴¹ Other research has shown that the industry inflated its estimates of the level of the illicit cigarette trade in Hong Kong.²⁴¹

TCCG presence on the Legislative Council Health Panel

In October 2015, Clear the Air, a tobacco control advocacy group in Hong Kong, highlighted that two TCCG consultants were sitting on the Health Panel of the Legislative Council. In a letter to the panel, Clear the Air questioned why this was permitted, given TCCG’s connection to the tobacco industry.²³⁹

Earlier that year in May 2015, those consultants had urged the Government to consult with the tobacco industry regarding a proposal to introduce new tobacco control measures, including an increase in the size of graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging, and suggested extending the ‘grace period’ for new package design.²³⁹²⁴²

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• The Coalition of Hong Kong Newspaper and Magazine Merchants
• Illicit Tobacco Trade
• Countering Industry Arguments Against Plain Packaging

References

The post Tobacco Control Concern Group (TCCG) appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

The Coalition of Hong Kong Newspaper and Magazine Merchants (CHKNMM) is a retail association representing over 35,000 newsstands in Hong Kong.²⁴³ It has lobbied against tobacco control policies including tobacco tax increases and graphic health warnings.

Relationship with the tobacco industry

CHKNMM members are newspaper vendors. Many of which sell tobacco products as part of their business.²⁴⁴

CHKNMM joined other retail groups and tobacco companies to establish the Tobacco Control Concern Group (TCCG) in 2009.²³⁷²³⁹ Tobacco companies and trade associations reported to be part of TCCG include British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Hong Kong Federation of Tobacco Industry Limited, and Pacific Cigar Company.²³⁹

TCCG has lobbied against tobacco control policies, in particular tobacco tax increases, using the industry argument that increases in tax will result in an increase in illicit trade.²⁴⁰²³⁷

Activities

Lobbying against tax policies

In 2011, CHKNMM and TCCG lobbied against tobacco tax increases. TCCG urged the government to reduce cigarette tax to a “more reasonable level”, stating that “Raising cigarette taxes has been proved to be an ineffective way to help people to quit smoking”, and citing a supposed risk of illicit trade.²⁴⁰²³⁷ CHKNMM added “Our business has seriously shrunk since the tobacco tax increase…we observed people buying illicit cigarettes instead of actually quitting smoking”.²⁴⁰

In 2023, CHKNMM again campaigned against tobacco tax increases, stating that it would not help reduce smoking rates at the expense of the vendors’ interests. It also stated that “around 20 percent of cigarette consumers convert to buy illicit tobacco”.²⁴⁴

Research has found that previous tobacco tax increases did not lead to an increase in illicit cigarette consumption in Hong Kong,²⁴⁵ and has noted that the tobacco industry has a history of inflating estimates of illicit trade in Hong Kong.²⁴⁶

TCCG has also used this argument to oppose tobacco control policies.

• See the TCCG page for more details.

Lobbying for newer nicotine and tobacco products

In June 2018, proposals were released by the government for newer nicotine and tobacco products to be regulated in the same way as conventional tobacco products. Later that month, CHKNMM submitted a response to the proposal (not publicly available).²⁴⁷²⁴⁸

The government then proposed amendments and submitted the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019 to the Legislative Council. This aimed to prohibit the import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertisement of newer products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs). In April 2019, CHKNMM made written and oral submissions to the bill (not publicly available).^249250248

In May 2020, CHKNMM held a press conference asking the government to allow policy relaxations that, it argued, would support an improvement in newspaper business trade. One of the requests was that heated tobacco products (HTPs) be included in the existing tobacco control framework, allowing newspaper vendors to sell these products. CHKNMM argued that a ban on HTPs would lead to an illicit market.²⁵¹

In September 2020, CHKNMM argued that changes to HTP regulations were required to increase vendor’s income, due to business being severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the smuggling of illicit cigarettes, citing a decrease in business of more than 50 percent.²⁵²

The Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 bill, was ultimately passed on the third reading in October 2021, coming into effect August 2022.²⁴⁸

Lobbying against graphic health warnings

In May 2015, the Food and Health Bureau in Hong Kong proposed new tobacco control measures, including increasing the size of graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging.²⁴² The chairperson of CHKNMM, reportedly met with legislators and stated in a media report “We are against how the Government has handled the issue…Without differentiation in packaging, it will become easier to manufacture illicit cigarettes, and more difficult for consumers to tell the difference.” CHKNMM also cited the implementation of plain packaging in Australia, claiming that smoking did not decline but instead allowed illicit cigarettes to flood the market,²⁴² although research does not support this.²⁵³ In July 2015, CHKNMM attended a legislative council meeting regarding bill, where it formally opposed the changes. It suggested that instead, the Administration should improve public education on the health effects of smoking.²⁵⁴

Government discussions took place throughout 2016 and 2017.²⁵⁵ During this time, the CHKNMM made a joint submission to the legislative council with I Smoke Alliance and the Hong Kong Smokers’ Rights Concern Group (not publicly available).²⁵⁶ Both organisations are smokers’ rights groups which campaign against tobacco control laws.^257258259

In 2017, CHKNMM threatened to protest, and said that they would lobby officials if the government tried to go ahead with the plan to increase the size of graphic health warnings.²⁶⁰ Ultimately the bill was successful, and the law implemented in December 2017.²⁶¹

Professor Judith Mackay, a Hong Kong-based senior policy adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO) was quoted in local media:

“I’ve never, in the last three decades, seen such opposition, lobbying or filibustering of a tobacco bill in Legco…An army of tobacco executives, lawyers and their allies have descended on Hong Kong to try to obstruct, delay and prevent the legislation going through”.²⁶²

Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2005

In 2005, CHKNMM lobbied against a tobacco control bill which introduced a number of new regulations to protect the public from second hand smoke, and restrict tobacco advertising.^263264265

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• Tobacco Control Concern Group (TCCG)
• Illicit Tobacco Trade
• Countering Industry Arguments Against Plain Packaging

References