India's Health Ministry has sent a letter to every state government telling them to enforce against nicotine pouch sales — and its main drug advisory board has simultaneously recommended that no new nicotine formulation be approved at all. It is a two-front crackdown on a category that has been growing quietly in one of the world's largest tobacco markets.

What happened

In a letter dated 19 September 2026, seen by Reuters, India's Health Ministry wrote that the "availability of oral nicotine pouches through online and offline channels in the country" has increased and that "nicotine exposure is of particular concern among children." States were told to "initiate appropriate enforcement action in accordance with the law, in the interest of public health and the protection of children."

The directive leans on India's drug law, which lets authorities search for and seize unauthorized products and prosecute sellers. Nicotine pouches are not an approved product category in India — they are treated as unapproved drug formulations.

The second front came from the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB). At its 27 August meeting it considered applications for pouches containing 2 mg, 4 mg and 6 mg of nicotine, proposed as smoking-cessation products. The National Tobacco Control Programme told the board that pouches "are addictive, pose independent health risks, and have not been established as effective smoking-cessation aids." The board went further, recommending that no new nicotine formulation be approved henceforth in the public interest, according to minutes published on 16 September.

Why it matters

For manufacturers eyeing Asia, India is the opposite of an opening market. The country banned e-cigarettes in 2019, allows approved nicotine-replacement products like gums and patches, and has now both enforced against pouches in the field and blocked their formal regulatory pathway. A June federal study called pouches "a largely unregulated public health concern" and found use concentrated among 18-to-40-year-olds, with Philip Morris' ZYN and Swedish Smokeless Solutions' White Fox identified in the market. India's tobacco burden — 1.35 million deaths a year — makes the politics unforgiving.

The enforcement push has already brushed up against well-known names. An April investigation found nicotine pouches on sale in Mumbai airport duty-free shops run by the Adani Group, and authorities have rejected arguments that duty-free stores are exempt from domestic law. Adani has denied wrongdoing.

There is a global tension in the background: the World Health Organization wants more safeguards, while the US FDA says smokers who switch completely to pouches or other alternatives may reduce their health risks. India has come down firmly on one side of that divide.

What's next

States now have a federal mandate to identify products already on the market and remove them using existing drug law. The DTAB recommendation is not a final ban — but it signals that any application to establish a legal pouch market will run into institutional resistance at the advisory level first.

For now, India is not regulating nicotine pouches. It is trying to shut them out.

---

Compare nicotine pouch brands and prices at PouchFinder.

SOURCES:

• Reuters via The Hindu, "India orders crackdown on nicotine pouches, citing health risks, letter shows." 26 September 2026. The Hindu
• Tobacco Asia, "India Moves Against Growing Nicotine Pouch Market." Timothy Donahue, 29 September 2026. Tobacco Asia