Are you familiar with the best cigarettes brands in India?
Looking back through history, we can see that smoking in India was firstly used for medical purposes. It was prescribed in Ayurveda, which is a collection of alternative practices and therapies in medicine. In literal translation, it means ‘life knowledge’. It was thought that smoking of cannabis could calm anxiety and stress, and this practice was used over 3000 years. Then, tobacco was introduced to Indians in the 17th century. Nowadays, when cigarettes’ negative effects are widely known, India is also one of the countries where smoking in public places is prohibited, from 2008. However, it is considered as a country which still has a big number of smokers.
According to World Health Organization, there is a big difference in smoking habits with males and females in India. It is estimated that 47.9% of males smoke any kind of tobacco, while the percentage of females is half less, with 20.3%. Most of the Indian population smokes Bidi (16%). It is a thin cigarette filled with tobacco and wrapped in a leaf of one of the flowering trees called Diospyros melanoxylon. It tends to be associated with a lower social standing, and it is often called ‘poor man’s cigarette’. Right behind bidi, regular cigarettes are used by 10.3% of Indians (percentage of adults age 15 and above). Others use smokeless and more natural products such as Khaini, Gutkha, Betel quid with tobacco and many more.
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Major players in Indian cigarette industry are Imperial Tobacco Co. of India (ITC) with 72% of market share, Godfrey Phillips (India) Ltd. with 12% and Golden Tobacco Ltd. (G.T.C.) and Vazir Sultan Tobacco Industries Ltd. with both 8%. Moreover, India is the second largest producer of tobacco products in the world, whereas Russia and Belgium are leading destinations for Indian tobacco exports. However, big amount of cigarettes in India are also sold illegally. It is fourth largest illegal cigarette market in the world.
By the way, you can watch the video below to find out 7 cigarette brands that contain the lowest tar and nicotine.
From our previous research of 10 Best Selling Cigarette Brands in India, we can see that ITC Ltd is the number one cigarette industry. What’s more, it has the biggest number of popular brands. Its annual sale is estimated to be around $57 billion! As ITC has 72% of Indian selling cigarettes, we decided to rank its brands as they are the most smoked cigarettes in this country. We consulted many sources such as Wys Wyg, Live Mint and World Blaze in order to compare the most popular ITC brands and their prices. Having in mind that the most expensive cigarettes are usually the most qualitative ones, we ranked them from the lowest price to the top one. For those brands who shared the same price, we gave priority to those with higher popularity. The prices could be seen in rupees as well as in dollars. Let’ s begin with our list of best cigarettes brands in India.
