CHENNAI: Nagarajan walks up to a petty shop near Virugambakkam and motions to the shopkeeper to give him his regular quota of six cigarettes and a match-box and hands over Rs 30 to him. But Nagarajan is shocked when the owner informs him that he will have to cough up an additional Rs 4, and grouchily settles for five, “I bought six cigarettes just yesterday for this price,” grumbles the electrician, and walks away muttering about a conspiracy that involves tobacco companies and the government trying to loot him. He isn’t too far from wrong, except that it isn’t so much the companies or the government that has increased cigarette prices this week; it’s the wholesalers, say the retailers.If smokers around the city are steaming at the government’s decision to increase VAT on tobacco from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent, imagine their consternation if they were to realise that this week’s hike might actually be exclusive of the announced tax hike that was effected by the state government on July 12. Selvaganesh, who has been working in a shop that sells cigarettes since he was in school, reveals, “Most of us collect our tobacco stock from wholesalers in Parrys. A day before the government announced the hike, they cut supply and then told us that they would resume it only if we bought it at a ‘revised’ price of `3-4 more, depending on the brand.” Most of the tea-shop owners had to comply with the new rates. Tobacco companies could not be reached to ascertain whether they were yet to hike prices, like the retailers’ claim.This has meant that retailers have had to increase the cost of a packet of cigarettes by the same amount so that their margin remains constant, “We have to make a profit, right? Why would we sell above the MRP if we got our fair margin,” reasons Madhav, who runs a tea shop in Kellys. Most of the younger ‘corporate’ clientele that frequent his shop shrug off the price rise with a simpler approach: Reduce or Quit. “I guess this is the best motivation to take a load off our lungs and our pockets,” says Ravi, a collection executive, as a he drags on a Gold Filter slower than usual, “Less is better, all around.” Most shop keepers have affirmed that sales remain steady, so there isn’t much quitting happening at the moment.For some though, the increase has caused them to examine cheaper variants within their brand or cheaper brands themselves, like Charminar and Charms, which have suddenly seen a spike in demand. “I have a set quote of `10 set aside for my coffee and cigarette break and I can’t increase that,” laments Charles, an elderly Corporation sweeper, “For a few days, I felt like a ‘King’ (Gold Flake) and now I’m back to Charms,” he grimaces.Most smokers seem resigned to the fact that inflation in prices is a given and will have to be embraced, much like the need to have a puff.
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