Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), which represents millions of tobacco farmers and farm workers, has urged the Centre to take a relook at the high and stringent regulations as they were crippling farming sector.
The association said that low production of the crop, lack of export incentives and non-stop smuggling of illegal/contraband stocks also need close monitoring by the Centre to bail out the tobacco farmers from the red.
India is the fourth largest and fastest growing illegal cigarette market in the world. The illicit cigarette market in India has doubled from a level of 13.5 billion sticks in 2006 to 30 billion sticks in 2021.