Jay Kapadia was a chain-smoker for 35 years. “I wanted to quit,” the Mumbai-based businessman recalled. “I had tried everything — nicotine patches, hypnotherapy , hospitalisation. Nothing worked.”In 2011, his wife suggested he switch to e-cigarettes. A novelty device then, it consisted of ingesting nicotine through a battery-powered vaporiser instead of burning tobacco. It wasn’t too common in India at the time but vaping was gaining currency as a healthier alternative to cigarettes in several western countries. The Oxford English Dictionary even recognised it as the Word of the Year in 2014.Kapadia, 53, doesn’t smoke anymore, only vapes. “And I think I speak for most of us here that we used to be smokers at some point,” he added, referring to the informal group of e-cigarette distributors called the India Vape Industry Association (InVIA), one balmy July afternoon.Like Kapadia, many in the business of e-cigarette distribution have similar stories of transition. When ET Magazine met some on the sidelines of an InVIA meeting at a Mumbai five-star hotel, they argued that theirs was a “cause that turned into a business”. India’s smoking population is an estimated 10 crore. Promoting e-cigarettes as a cessation product thus has tremendous potential. Of course, e-cigarettes do contain nicotine, the addictive substance found in cigarettes. The liquid & vapour it generates are also said to be potentially harmful. “We have never claimed vaping is completely safe,” said Kapadia. “But this is certainly a healthier alternative.” Some studies have declared vaping as 95% safer than conventional cigarettes, since it does not contain tar and other harmful chemicals produced by burning tobacco. Citing this, an advisory by the UK’s National Health Service encourages its use as a cessation device. The government of New Zealand, in a bid to have a smoke-free country by 2025, too, encourages users to switch to vaping.In India, no independent studies have been conducted or regulatory mechanisms put in place on the use of e-cigarettes. It is, however, a signatory to the World Health Organization ’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which calls upon countries to regulate the use of e-cigarettes or ban them altogether. Many activists trace the resistance faced by e-cigarettes in India to the FCTC guidelines.In July, some media reports, citing anonymous sources from the Health Ministry, said the Union government intended to put a complete ban on e-cigarettes and vaping products. The move came after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in May, backed a total ban on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), saying such devices become a gateway to smoking and had the potential to get a nonsmoker addicted to nicotine. Vaping, it said, had an impact across the life course, “from womb to the tomb”.On the face of it, the government’s crackdown on e-cigarettes seems counter-intuitive, especially when its approach to limit the use of tobacco is greater regulation, not a complete clampdown. For all its overt anti-tobacco moves, the government continues to own about 28% stake in ITC, a company which accounts for nearly 85% of the cigarette market in India. A common refrain against a cigarette ban is the money riding on it: apart from employing 7 million people, cigarette production and sales contribute to nearly 2% tax revenues in India.As for e-cigarettes, the caution in believing in its benefits over conventional counterparts seems to be driven by the precedents set by the global tobacco industry. In the 20th century, tobacco companies in the US funded several “studies” claiming there was no link between smoking and cancer. Such obfuscation allowed them to promote its use until as recently as 1998, when they had to abandon such “studies” in accordance with a lawsuit settlement.Dr Shekhar Sanyal, whose Goa-based National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication has been active in pushing for a country-wide tobacco ban, says, “You can’t ban tobacco products in India because they generate a lot of employment. E-cigarette isn’t a big industry today but it has the potential since it is being promoted as a healthier alternative to cigarettes. My main worry is that it will attract children and they will get addicted to it.”Vaping, he adds, needs to be studied for “a minimum of 20 years” before it can be conclusively regarded as safe. Most e-cigarettes have been in circulation for a little over a decade, and its technology is constantly evolving.Punjab was the first Indian state to ban vaping in 2014. Since then, vaping products have been banned in 12 other states. This year, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, Maharashtra and Rajasthan became the latest states to enact this ban. In the absence of clear guidelines, however, states vary in their approach to enforce such bans, using the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act or the Poisons Act to do it.Lokesh Jain, founder of the Delhi-based e-cigarette company Litejoy International Private Limited and a member of InVIA, finds the hardline approach confounding. “The standard process for the government before issuing any industry-specific rule is to consult all stakeholders. Here, they are taking unilateral decisions. All our attempts to engage have been stonewalled,” he said.The health ministry did not respond to ET Magazine’s requests for an interview.In February, Litejoy International Private Limited challenged in the Delhi High Court the Centre’s notification to the customs, drugs control and state licensing authorities to clamp down on the manufacture, sale and distribution of e-cigarettes. In March, the court gave an interim order, staying the ban. Similar legal challenges are being mounted in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu , Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka.According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2) 2016-17, an estimated 0.02% Indian adults use e-cigarettes. Members of InVIA claim that most e-cigarette sales in India are driven by people aged over 30 in tier-1 and -2 cities. While vaping devices are available for as little as Rs 150, the most popular ones cost Rs 1,200-2,000.In 2017, the market research firm Euromonitor International valued India’s vaping market at around $15.6 million and projected it to grow 60% annually until 2022. However, given the government's reluctance to tap into the industry and the uncertainty about its future, it is foreign brands that are driving the sales.In 2014, ITC launched an e-cigarette, Eon, without much fanfare. Juul, among the most popular e-cigarette brands in the US, and Philip Morris International (PMI) are said to be eyeing the Indian market for the last two years. R Venkatesh, India director of corporate affairs at Philip Morris International, said his company has invested nearly $6 billion in research and development of vaping products. It hasn't yet launched in India, where the ban seems to be done "without necessary understanding of the science behind these products"."Smokers choose to smoke for the nicotine. They are not interested in the burning and the smoke," said Venkatesh. "Think of it as similar to women using open-hearth ovens to cook. There used to be a lot of smoke because of the burning of coal. They inhaled it and landed up with respiratory diseases. Through technology, we eventually came up with gas cylinders and electric stoves. You haven't given up cooking, only ensured that the mechanism is better, less risky. It's the same analogy for e-cigarettes."While an analogy between cooking and smoking is far-fetched, PMI in India has been engaging with doctors, scientists, public health experts and policymakers to address misconceptions around vaping and the need for a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes. "Each time we engage with the regulators, they ask for an India-specific data. But you¡¦re banning a category, you're not allowing us to engage externally. How on earth am I supposed to create India-specific data?"Samrat Chowdhery, who leads the consumer body Association of Vapers India (AVI), says a ban on e-cigarettes is counterproductive. "Bans don't work in India. It will only slow the uptake and it will damage the perception."A user himself, Chowdhery says he noticed a positive difference in his own health after he switched to cigarettes in 2014. "If you look at studies," he says, "vaping has proved to be more effective as a cessation product than nicotine patches or gums. As for arguments about e-cigarettes becoming a gateway there have been studies in the UK and the US show such occurrences are very less."Over the past few years, the AVI too has engaged with researchers in this field and initiated dialogue with the Indian government to regulate the e-cigarette market. While there hasn¡¦t been a lot of successes so far, Chowdhery has no plans to give up anytime soon."I am an optimist," says Chowdhery. "Condoms faced a lot of resistance when launched, with many saying they will promote 'irresponsible sex'. But it worked out eventually. I'm sure this will be no different.