Karnataka imposes one-year ban on gutkha and tobacco products

Karnataka has announced a one-year ban on the sale and distribution of tobacco and nicotine products, including gutkha and pan masala, through a notification issued on August 10. The state's Food Safety and Drug Administration Department has launched enforcement operations across the state and asked the public to report violations.

Karnataka has banned the sale and distribution of gutkha, pan masala, and all other products containing tobacco and nicotine across the state for one year, with the notification coming into effect from August 10, 2026.

The ban was issued by the Department of Food Safety and Drug Administration under the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Government of Karnataka, citing public health as the basis for the move.

The notification covers all products containing tobacco and nicotine, including gutkha and pan masala. It prohibits their manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution, and sale across Karnataka for the duration of one year from the date of the notification.

The order has been issued under Section 30(2)(a) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and Regulation 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011.

Special inspection and enforcement operations are already under way across the state, led by Food Safety Officers. The operations are targeting the entire supply chain of prohibited products, from manufacture and storage to transportation and retail sale.

Srinivas K, Commissioner of the Department of Food Safety and Drugs Administration, confirmed the notification in a statement, saying the department is undertaking stringent enforcement measures against all products containing tobacco and nicotine.

The department has appealed to residents to report any instance of manufacture, sale, or distribution of prohibited tobacco and nicotine products to the concerned authorities. It said public cooperation is essential to building what it described as a healthy and addiction-free Karnataka.

Karnataka is not alone in taking this route. Several Indian states have periodically renewed bans on gutkha and pan masala under the Food Safety and Standards Act, which gives state governments the power to prohibit food products deemed hazardous to public health. States including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have issued similar bans in previous years, often renewing them annually as the law requires fresh notifications each year to keep the prohibition in force.

The August 10 notification brings Karnataka in line with this broader national pattern of state-level action against chewable tobacco products, which health authorities have long identified as a leading cause of oral cancer in India.