India rejects lifting e-cigarette ban, dealing setback to Philip Morris

India has ruled out any relaxation of its ban on e-cigarettes, including heat-not-burn tobacco products, delivering a blow to lobbying efforts by Philip Morris International to allow such devices in the country.

India banned e-cigarettes in 2019. The country sells more than 100 billion cigarettes annually, making it the world’s seventh-largest cigarette market by volume, and tobacco use kills more than one million people each year.

Philip Morris, the world’s most valuable tobacco company, had sought access to the Indian market for its heated tobacco device IQOS, which it claims is less harmful than traditional cigarettes. The health ministry said the government is not considering revoking, amending, or relaxing the ban.

The ministry said India remains committed to evidence-based tobacco control and cessation measures and added that the existing law explicitly prohibits heat-not-burn devices.

A Reuters review of confidential company letters from 2021 to 2025 showed Philip Morris privately lobbied senior Indian officials and a parliamentary panel to consider exempting heated tobacco products from the ban. Company executives also met several state government officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year.

Philip Morris did not comment directly on the ministry’s statement but said it regularly engages with governments globally to discuss smoke-free products.

Philip Morris holds a 76 per cent share of the global heated tobacco market. Its share of India’s cigarette market rose to 7.6 per cent in 2024 from 1.75 per cent in 2019, according to Euromonitor estimates.