KOLKATA: The country’s largest cigarette makers, such as ITC , Godfrey Phillips and VST Industries, have decided to shut cigarette manufacturing from Friday due to ambiguity on the graphic health warning on tobacco product packs.This would result in a loss of about Rs 350 crore per day in turnover, a news release from industry body Tobacco Institute of India (TII) said.TII, which represents companies that account for more than 98% of domestic sales of duty-paid cigarettes, said the decision was made fearing potential violation of rules.The ambiguity is related to the 85% graphic warning that cigarette packs must carry from this month under a government notification.A parliamentary committee, however, had last month recommended 50% pictorial warning on both sides of the cigarette pack. Until now, cigarette packs carried warning covering 40% of the front of the pack.“The Indian tobacco industry has written to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 15th March, 2016, seeking clarification on the matter,” said Tobacco Institute of India Director Syed Mahmood Ahmad. The ministry has yet to respond.India’s legal cigarette industry has been facing a continuous drop in demand because of high taxation and the growth of dutyevaded illegal supply of cigarettes, which also do not carry pictorial warnings Since 2012-13, excise duty on cigarettes, at per-unit level, has gone up cumulatively by 118% with an increase in taxation in every successive year.As a result, cigarettes sold legally today represent only 11% of tobacco consumption in India.As per estimates, the industry is down from 110 billion sticks sold per year to 95 billion sticks. Tobacco Institute of India said the increase in pictorial warning will promote illegal cigarette trade and hurt the livelihood of 45.7 million people dependent on tobacco, including farmers, labourers and workers.It said tobacco control policies appear to be directed by the NGOs and anti-tobacco activists who are funded by organisations based in the US where till date there is no pictorial warning.TII said the top five tobacco producing countries, which account for 90% of global tobacco production, have an average warning size of 20% of the pack.