烟草在线据《商业标准报》报道编译 在印度14个邦禁止生产、销售和营销gutkha烟的几周后,gutkha烟生产商找到了一个可以巧妙地绕过禁令来销售他们产品的新方法。不再销售以前的“即时消费型混合产品”,烟草公司现在使用新方法销售gutkha烟——嚼烟和糖精钠以两种不同的袋装销售。当这两袋产品被混合后,消费者就能得到gutkha烟的替代品。
这个新的销售把戏不违反任何法律。“这并不是新办法。数年来,DS集团一直分开销售Rajnigandha(糖精钠)和Tulsi(嚼烟)。然后,人们把这两种烟混合在一起使用,”一位业内人士说道。
“由于许多邦实施了gutkha烟禁令,因而所有其它的gutkha烟生产商都在效仿这种做法。除了包装成本增加以外,这种做法对公司的业务影响并不大。”
如果你去路边的paan店购买gutkha品牌,零售商将会卖给你两袋产品,说“把这两袋混合在一起,然后就能得到你想要的gutkha烟了。”
据德里的零售商称,烟草公司在3至4天前就开始供应这种新的产品混合物或gutkhas烟的替代品了。“从那时起我们就开始销售这些产品。烟草公司还从零售店召回了之前的gutkha烟存货,”德里的两个零售商说道。
据另一位业内人士称,烟草公司还向零售商提供奖励以促进gutkha烟新替代品的销售。奖励包括汽车、自行车和其它物品。
上周(9.31-10.6),无烟烟草协会发布广告称,禁止无烟烟草产品是不公平的,因为这些产品中的烟草成分比卷烟中的成分含量更低。
这些广告称,一袋gutkha烟含有0.2克的烟草,而一支卷烟则含有0.63克。
这些广告还因为gutkha烟禁令谴责了“卷烟公司强大的游说团体”,该禁令迫使许多小的gutkha烟生产商关闭了商店。中央槟榔和可可豆营销与加工联合公司以及印度Kattha工厂协会也在本次活动中加入了无烟烟草协会。槟榔和Kattha是gutkha烟的构成成分。
India: Gutkha Makers Get Creative, Bypass Ban With New Fix
A few weeks after 14 states banned production, sale and marketing of gutkha, its manufacturers have come out with a new way to sell their products by cleverly bypassing the ban. Instead of the earlier "ready-to-consume mixes", companies are now selling gutkha in a new avatar — where chewing tobacco and paan masala are sold in two different sachets. When the two packs are mixed, consumers get a proper substitute for gutkha.
This new sales trick does not violate any law. "This is not new. DS Group has been selling Rajnigandha (paan masala) and Tulsi (chewing tobacco) separately for years. And, people mix the two for consumption," said an industry source.
"With the ban, all other gutkha manufacturers are following the same strategy. It does not affect the companies' business much, except the increase in packaging costs."
If you go to a roadside paan shop and ask for any gutkha brand, the retailer will give you two separate packets, saying "mix the two and you will get your stuff".
According to retailers in Delhi, companies started supplying the new product mixes, or the replacement for gutkhas, three to four days earlier. "We have been selling the products since then. Companies have also recalled the earlier gutkha stocks from retail shops," said two Delhi-based retailers.
According to another industry source, companies are also offering incentives to sales persons to boost sales of the new substitutes for gutkha. The incentives include cars, bikes and other packages.
Last week, the Smokeless Tobacco Association had issued advertisements saying it was unfair to ban their products when the tobacco content in these was lower than that in cigarettes.
The advertisements mentioned that one pouch of gutkha contains 0.2 g of tobacco as against 0.63 g in a single cigarette.
The advertisements also blamed "the powerful lobby of cigarette companies" for the ban, which has compelled a number of small gutkha manufacturers to shut shop. Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Ltd and the All India Kattha Factories Association also joined the Smokeless Tobacco Association in the drive. Arecanut or betelnut and kattha are the ingredients in gutkha.
The states that have banned gutkha and paan masala include Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Mizoram, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Sikkim. Enditem