More than 1.2 million people in India die every year because of the consumption of tobacco. The rest, who are unfortunate enough to stay alive, get stuck with high blood pressure, change in blood flow, increased risk of heart attack, risk of cancer, and various other ailments.
This isn’t classified information. One search on google reveals all these statistics to anyone. So the question arises, despite knowing the risks, despite seeing the horrifying image of dying lungs every day on cigarette packets, why do people smoke? Do they smoke because of peer pressure? Do they do that to fit in a crowd? Or, do they willingly damage their lungs because it helps relieve their stress? Whatever the reason may be, there are 267 million smokers in India making the tobacco industry a rather lucrative business to be in.
It is not like the Government of India hasn’t done anything to stop this unhealthy addiction of the citizens. They declared The Tobacco Regulation Act, banning sales of cigarettes in vending machines, near schools, prohibiting sales to minors, and so on. However, do these regulations work? I am afraid not. Kids today start smoking at a very young age, contacting their ‘dealers’ every time they need a nicotine boost.
There is a very old tradition in India that every time the government tries to be proactive about a problem, the affected industries counter it with creative yet very harmful solutions. Considering the rising number of tobacco users in India, the government is considering the proposal to ban the sale of loose cigarettes across the nation. This ban is a smart move, considering 75% of cigarettes in India are sold as loose sticks. People prefer buying loose cigarettes because it’s cheaper than buying a 10 or 20-pack. When cigarettes are easily accessible, it also widens the prospective customer base as it attracts a younger crowd with limited money to spend on their addictions.
While the Indian government is smart and works hard, the industrialists pushing tobacco are smarter and work harder. Following the threat to their business, ITC, India’s largest Tobacco manufacturer turned to the principle of ‘Sachetization’ and released Mixpods, the smallest variant of its premium brand, Gold Flake. Sachetization is based on the principle that smaller is better. It essentially means packaging of products into smaller sachets. While it may seem that it decreases the consumption of the product, sachetization eventually increases the sales and the profit margins of the sellers. Accordingly, Mixpods will contain 5 cigarettes retailing at Rs. 82.5. This small pack of cigarettes will cater to the people who might not prefer to buy big packs of cigarettes. It also caters to the consumer’s behavioural aspect as they won’t feel guilty about spending too much on a bad habit. The irony is that they might end up spending more money this way with a growing addiction problem.
Sachetization is based on the principle that smaller is better. It essentially means packaging of products into smaller sachets. While it may seem that it decreases the consumption of the product, sachetization eventually increases the sales and the profit margins of the sellers.
One of the reasons why the government wants to ban the sale of single cigarettes is to take away the affordability factor. However, tobacco companies launching 5 packs, or even 3 packs, defeats the entire purpose of banning loose cigarettes. These new, smaller cigarette packs will start to at least look optically affordable. It’ll lure people into the harmful world of tobacco and nicotine and will promote teenage smoking. If not ‘sachetization’, people will turn to the underground cigarette-selling operation, forcing the government to lose any sort of control over the sales.
So does this all mean that India will continue to be a tobacco-dependent nation? I believe that the government will never be able to outsmart the industrialists. They might turn to levying heavy taxes and strictly imposing the ‘no selling to minors’ rule, but till the time there’s demand in the market, the supply will continue to thrive and flourish. If people wish to sign their death sentences and smoke their lives away, no amount of heavy taxes will ever stop them.
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It’s true, till there’s demand in the market industrialists will continue to supply and evade all the taxes and and different kinds of bans. Until the mindset is changed the industry will only grow.
Indeed, the best businesses do not break the law instead they exploit the loopholes. Be it via surrogate marketing or sachetisation.
Well explained and structured👍