TADA court boosts business of e-cigarette manufacturers in Noida

CE4-The recent denial by the TADA Court to actor Sanjay Dutt to have puffs of electronic cigarette in jail has become a blessing in disguise for e-cigarette manufacturers. Though none of the manufacturers are ready to accept this, the incidence has certainly given the product a media coverage which has boosted business of manufacturers based in Nodia, major suppliers in Delhi-NCR.

There are two types of electronic cigarette- chargeable and non-chargeable. Latter is like a use and throw pen. While chargeable has two categories-cartridge filled and liquid filled. Cartridge filled cigarettes contains nicotine while liquid filled cigarettes contain liquefied nicotine.

Shriram of Mist Electronic Cigarette, a retailer in Delhi-NCR said, "A non-chargeable cigarette provides around 400 puffs while the chargeable one (either cartridge filled or liquid filled) last for around five to six months."

Nicotine in an ego batteries is dissolved in propylene glycol, and the combination is stored in a cartridge that is designed to look like a traditional orange cigarette filter. The nicotine cartridge screws onto the main body of e-cigarette, which contains a rechargeable battery that powers an electrical circuit.

Rajat Girdhar, CEO of SMOKEFREE said, "The business is growing at around 200 percent per annum in India, but it is due to the lower base rate. The business is expected to pick up in the next five years as more and more people are switching to e-cigarettes, especially smokers above fifty.desSDds34 "Like esutta, SMOKEFREE is also into e-retail and manufacturing (in Noida). Girdhar said that his company is getting around 400 orders a day and it produces a variety of e-cigarettes, ranging from Rs 350 to Rs 5,000."

Elaborating on the price ranges in India, Thapar of esutta said, "ego e cig are priced up to Rs 10,000 but the demand for the high end variant is less. Therefore, we generally avoid producing such high end variants. Either in Delhi-NCR or in other metros, major demand for e-cigarettes are priced in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500."

A spokesperson of Balajee Electronics, a retailer based in Gurgaon and Noida said over a telephonic exchange that, "For refilling the cigarette which is priced in the range of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500, it requires Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,000."

When asked about capital required to set up ego cigarette manufacturing unit, Rajat of SMOKEFREE informed, "It requires around $1 million (Rs 5.5 crore), because a majority of machineries required are not developed in India." Most of the machines used are imported from South Asian countries like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hongkong etc.