Trends indicate that smokers hit by the rising cigarette prices in India have shifted to so called down market options like bidis and Gutkas, resulting in an increase in total tobacco consumption.

"High rates of taxation on cigarettes are forcing consumers to shift to cheaper and alternate forms of tobacco consumption. As a result, overall tobacco consumption is increasing, as the price of other tobacco products is very low," says Udayan Lal, Director of the Tobacco Institute of India (TII).
Pointing out that bidi consumption was very high in north India, particularly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, with the ratio of bidis to cigarettes sometimes being as high as 24:1, Lal says, “Bidis are more harmful than cigarettes because they are filled with small amounts of low-grade tobacco.”
According to Lal, cigarettes represent only 15 per cent of total tobacco consumption in India. The remaining 85 per cent of tobacco consumption is in the form of traditional products such as bidis, khaini and gutkha.
"It's not that the government is unaware of the facts about the growing bidi industry. The highly labour intensive nature of the industry, which provides large-scale employment, gives it a powerful voice and that could be one of the reasons why tax rates are so low," says Lal.
According to a health ministry report, India is home to 100 million bidi smokers. (pi)