India is the second- largest producer of tobacco in the world after China. However, it holds a meagre 0.7 per cent share of the $30-billion global trade in tobacco.
Cigarettes account for 85 per cent of the country’s total tobacco exports.
Of the total tobacco produced in the country, around 48 per cent is consumed in the form of chewing tobacco, 38 per cent as bidis, and 14 per cent as cigarettes.
The per capita consumption of cigarettes in India is a tenth of the world average.
In the recent past, the consumption of tobacco has been reduced by anti-tobacco drives and the ban of consumption in public areas.
The biggest player in this industry is ITC with a market share of 72 per cent.
