Gutka share zooms past bidis.

Byline: Raghu Krishnan

: The campaign against smoking in public places could have caused an unusual change in the pattern of tobacco consumption in the country. Till a few years ago, bidis accounted for 54 per cent of tobacco consumption, chewing tobacco for 27 per cent and cigarettes for 19 per cent.

Over the last few years, there has been a change in this pattern. The share of bidis in tobacco consumption has now fallen to 43 per cent and that of cigarettes to 14 per cent while the share of chewing tobacco has spurted to 43 per cent, according to Tobacco Institute of India (TII).

However, this could have a negative effect not just on the …