Punjab, one of the first states to prohibit the production and sale of gutkha and pan masala, has modified the ban to allow manufacturing, according to The Tribune in Chandigarh.

Restoring the manufacture of chewable tobacco products was done because the local tobacco industry was suffering under a blanket ban, Punjab Food Safety Commissioner Hussan Lal reportedly told The Tribune. “Only a nationwide ban on production and sale of chewing and flavoured tobacco can work.”
The state ban on storage, sale and distribution of chewable tobacco remains in place. One dozen states banned production and sale of gutkha and related products following a 2011 ruling by national food safety officials that tobacco and nicotine no longer could be used in food products, the newspaper said on its website.