Japan Tobacco's Indian JV Goes Up in Smoke

Source from:  Surajeet Das Gupta / New Delhi 11/10/2011

Confronted with a stringent FDI regime in tobacco, the world's third largest publicly traded tobacco company, Japan Tobacco Inc, is closing its joint venture in India from December 31. The venture, JT International Indian Pvt Ltd, has already surrendered its licence to manufacture five billion cigarettes per annum to the government. Japan Tobacco has 50 per cent stake in JT International Indian Pvt Ltd jointly with a Mumbai-based partner. The company has closed its Hyderabad factory and sold most of the machinery. According to sources, nearly 70 employees are expected to lose their jobs, while several have already left the company. The Indian company used to sell two international brands, Gold Coast and Winston, and during its peak hawked about 300 million sticks per annum in Kerala, Mumbai and Bangalore. Enditem