India's tobacco control rests on COTPA 2003, which bans public smoking, tobacco advertising, sales to under-18s and sales within 100 yards of educational insti…
Sardar Bhopinder Singh Man moved to add 'tobacco' to what became Article 47. The amendment was negatived, and tobacco was never named.
Cigarette packs and ads had to say 'Cigarette smoking is injurious to health'. Bidis and smokeless tobacco, most of the market, stayed outside it.
The Supreme Court ordered a ban on smoking in hospitals, schools, courts, offices and public transport, calling second-hand smoke a right-to-life issue.
It bans public smoking, tobacco ads, sales to under-18s and sales within 100 yards of schools, and requires pack warnings, for all tobacco products.
Workplaces, restaurants, stations and transport became smoke-free from Gandhi Jayanti 2008. Owners and managers became responsible.
Food-safety rules barred tobacco and nicotine as food ingredients. States banned gutkha from April 2012, though twin packs remain a loophole.
Warnings grew from 40% of the front to 85% of both sides. A 2017 High Court ruling against them was stayed by the Supreme Court in 2018.
No. Production, import, sale, storage and advertising of e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn and e-hookahs are banned, with jail for offenders.
Yes. Online content showing tobacco must carry health spots, disclaimers and on-screen warnings, as films have since 2012.
Karnataka raised its age to 21 and banned hookah bars. Nationally, packs now read 'Tobacco causes painful death' with quitline 1800-11-2356.
Cigarettes and chewing tobacco carry 40% GST plus a new per-stick excise duty; bidis stay at 18%. The compensation cess has ended.
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