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A study led by the ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research finds nicotine pouches reaching Indian cities through online platforms, hookah shops and gig delivery services.
The study follows a World Health Organization warning of 15 May 2026 that nicotine pouch brands are targeting young people as sales surge.
No Indian law clearly covers the product: COTPA, 2003 lists specific tobacco products and pouches are not among them, and they contain no tobacco leaf.
The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019 does not apply either, since pouches have no electronic device and produce neither smoke nor vapour.
Coverage under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is contested, and courts' broad reading of 'food' leaves the Food Safety and Standards framework as another possible route.
Regulates advertising, marketing and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products, but only those listed in the Act. Nicotine pouches are tobacco-free and unlisted, and a penal or trade-restricting statute cannot be read expansively to cover them
Bans the production, import, sale and advertisement of e-cigarettes. Its very enactment showed that the Drugs Act alone did not empower a vape ban. Pouches fall outside it because they involve no electronic device and no smoke or vapour
Contested ground. Nicotine is not listed as a drug in any schedule, but nicotine patches and gums are DCGI-approved drugs, and Schedule K of the 1945 Rules exempts gums and lozenges below 2 mg nicotine from licensing - an exemption that would be pointless if nicotine were never a drug
Defines food to include any processed, partly processed or unprocessed substance meant for human consumption; judicial rulings on supari and chewing tobacco extended this to items that are chewed rather than swallowed, making a food-law route arguable for pouches
ICMR institute for cancer prevention research and tobacco control evidence; led the study tracking how nicotine pouches enter Indian markets
Issued the 15 May 2026 warning on nicotine pouches marketed to youth; recommends flavour bans, advertising restrictions, age verification, plain packaging, nicotine caps and taxation
National drug regulator; approved nicotine patches and gums as drugs for treating nicotine addiction, which is the pivot of the Drugs Act argument
GS Paper 2 > Issues Relating to Development and Management of Health; Government Policies and Interventions
General Awareness > Acts and Regulations
A tobacco-free sachet of nicotine, flavourings and plant fibres held between lip and gum, delivering nicotine through the oral lining without smoke or vapour
The schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 that exempts specified products - including gums and lozenges with under 2 mg nicotine - from licensing and prescription requirements
The rule that statutes restricting trade or imposing penalties are read narrowly, so unlisted products cannot be brought within them by analogy