Economics of Tobacco in India- A Barrier in Curbing the Silent Epidemic a Comprehensive Review

The tobacco use epidemic is one of the greatest hazard to the current global health. India is the third largest producer of tobacco globally and providing employment to 38 million people through its tobacco industry. Tobacco is grown in major Indian states and majority goes into bidi manufacturing and is one of the major export crop. Tobacco use is a major cause of NCDs, which account for approximately 60% of deaths in India. The aggregate direct and indirect cost of diseases accountable to tobacco use was INR 1,044,816 million in 2011 posing a huge economic burden to the people. Between men and women, men bear a disproportionately higher burden of the total cost, which is around 90% of the total economic burden due to allcause mortality. 78% of the total costs arose due to smoked tobacco whereas 22% was due to smokeless tobacco-related diseases. The enormous economic burden and resulting losses to the nation could be prevented in wake of stronger tobacco control initiatives by the government and civil society organizations