Illegal cigarette seizures jumped 9x in FY21, squeezing legal players like ITC
India's enforcement agencies seized nine times more contraband cigarettes in FY21 than the prior year, signalling a pandemic-era surge in illicit tobacco trade. The shadow market erodes volumes and pricing power for legal manufacturers like ITC, even as tax-paying retailers absorb the share loss.
Seizures of illegal cigarettes in India during FY21 were nine times higher than the prior year, indicating a sharp pandemic-era expansion of contraband tobacco trade — a category-level concern for legal tobacco retailers like ITC.
Also reported by
- Moneycontrol — Same time
- Moneycontrol — Same time