Cigarette industry shuts down manufacture on issue of bigger health warning

Major cigarette manufacturers in the country threatened to close down their factories from April 1. They include Godfrey Phillips and the Indian Tobacco Comany. They are protesting against the government's insistence on putting larger pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. The Tobacco Institute of India, whose members account for 98% of the manufacturers, said that it was owing to ambiguity in the graphic health warning on tobacco product packs that its members were unable to continue manufacturing cigarettes. The industry had in a letter sought clarification on the matter, according to Syed Mahmood Ahmed, Director of TII. The shut-down of the industry was expected to cost Rs.350 crore per day for the manufacturing units. The rule to cover 85% of the space on the pack was to start from April 1. The industry was of the view that the present 45% coverage of the pack for the pictorial warning was sufficient. The 85% pack coverage would hit the livelihood of 45.7 million people depending on the cigarette industry, the institute felt. They included farmers, labour, workers, trade and others. As per industry estimates, the illegal cigarette manufacture accounted for one-fifth of the total industry resulting in an annual revenue loss of Rs 9000 crore loss to the national excequer.