Cigarettes may be out, but cigars are still in

Friday, January 14 2011

Government regulations and a stringent taxation policy may be spoiling the fun for cigarette manufacturers, but cigars continue to ignite the $13.5 billion tobacco category

BY Radhika Sachdev, Delhi|tehelkahindi.com 

Cigarettes manufacturers' loss could be cigar manufacturers' gain. Thanks to the curbs on cigarette manufacturers, the main driver for the $13.5 billion Indian tobacco market (excluding bidis) could be high-value cigars and cigarillos (a narrower version of cigars) that until last year were all imported brands.

In January 2010, however, ITC Ltd, the country's leading cigarette manufacturer with a 70 per cent of the share of the market, introduced Armenteros hand-rolled cigars through an exclusive tie-up with La Aurora, one of the oldest cigar manufacturers in the Dominican Republic.

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