据印度亚洲通讯社报道编译 由于印度政府尚未制定有关电子烟的政策，烟草巨头ITC公司7月30日表示将与当局谈判，以便将电子烟产品引入印度。
“我们内部已经准备好，但我们还没有有关电子烟方面的政府政策。所以我们正寻求与政府就这个问题进行谈判，”在第103届股东周年大会后，ITC公司董事长Y C 戴维什沃告诉媒体人士。
戴维什沃承认卷烟由于税收增加而存在压力，但表示公司将坚持向该领域投资，同时继续加强在快速消费品领域的多元化经营。
“如果ITC公司不涉足卷烟，那么其它公司将涉足。如果印度不生产卷烟，那么卷烟将要进口、走私或非法销售。在一定程度上卷烟还存在消费需求，因此我们将继续经营卷烟业务，因为我们希望该行业掌握在负责任的公司手中，”他说。
戴维什沃认为更高的税收没有遏制烟草使用，只是减少了卷烟消费，他呼吁建立公平的方式对卷烟征税。
ITC Mulls Talks with Government on E-cigarettes
With the government yet to formulate a policy on e-cigarettes, tobacco giant ITC Wednesday said it will engage in talks with the authorities so that it can introduce the product in India.
"We are internally ready but we don't have a government policy on e-cigarettes yet. So, we are looking towards engaging in talks with the government on the issue," ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar told media persons after the company's 103rd AGM here.
Admitting that the cigarettes segment was under pressure because of increasing taxation, Deveshwar said the company will persist with investing in the segment while continuing to robustly diversify especially in the FMCG segment.
"If ITC is not into cigarettes then someone else will. If not in India, then it will be imported, smuggled or sold illegally. To the extent it has demand, we will continue in the business because we want the industry to be in responsible hands," he said.
Asserting that higher taxation has not curbed the use of tobacco but only shrunk cigarette consumption, Deveshwar urged for an equitable approach to taxing cigarettes. Enditem