Estimates of the economic contributions of the bidi manufacturing industry in India

BACKGROUND: Bidis, the most common smoking tobacco product in India, remain largely untaxed and are subject to very few regulations to discourage their use. A major argument against tax increases is the large potential loss of economic activity and employment in the bidi industry from reduced consumption. METHODS: We used a nationally representative survey of unorganised bidi manufacturing firms (n=2841) in India to estimate the economic …