Is Vaping Legal in India? Riyan Parag Fine, PECA 2019, Punishment — Explained

Is Vaping Legal in India? Riyan Parag was fined 25% of his match fee by the BCCI for vaping during an IPL 2026 match. But under Indian law, the same act can mean jail. North Desk explains everything about vaping — what it is, why it is banned, and how the world treats it.

North Desk Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 30

On the evening of April 29, with Rajasthan Royals in the middle of a chase against Punjab Kings at the New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur, television cameras panned to the dressing room. What they captured had nothing to do with cricket. Royals captain Riyan Parag was seen exhaling a thick cloud of vapour — vaping, casually, on live national television.

The clip went viral within minutes. By Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had its response ready. Parag was fined 25 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for breaching Article 2.21 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct — conduct that “brings the game into disrepute.”

There is a detail in how this unfolded that says something larger. On-field umpires Tanmay Srivastava and Nitin Menon did not report the matter to match referee Amit Sharma after the game. They acted only after the video went viral and visual proof was placed before them. In other words, it was not the officials who caught Parag — it was X or Twitter.

The BCCI’s penalty is significant in cricket terms. But here is the part most coverage has glossed over: under Indian law, the same act — vaping — carries a punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. India has completely banned vaping since 2019. Parag was not just breaching the IPL code. He was, on the face of it, breaking the law.

Yet walk through Sector 34 in Chandigarh on any evening, or through any college area in Delhi or Ludhiana, and you will see people vaping openly. The device is everywhere. The law is nowhere.

So what exactly is a vape? Is it harmful? When did India ban it — and why? What is the actual punishment? And how does India compare to the rest of the world? North Desk answers every question.

Q1. WHAT EXACTLY IS A VAPE?

A vape — short for vaporiser — is a battery-powered electronic device that heats a liquid to produce an aerosol, which the user inhales. Unlike a cigarette, there is no tobacco leaf and no burning involved. The device typically has three components: a battery, a heating coil, and a cartridge or tank holding the liquid.

That liquid — called e-liquid or vape juice — usually contains a base of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine, nicotine (though nicotine-free versions exist), and flavourings. The flavours are central to the appeal: mango, strawberry, mint, bubblegum, cola — the variety is almost endless. It is precisely this that worries health experts and governments. A product that smells of fruit and looks like a gadget is a much easier sell to a teenager than a cigarette.

Vapes come in several forms. Disposable single-use sticks are the most common and cheapest. Refillable pod systems and larger “mod” devices are used by more regular users. Heat-not-burn products like IQOS also fall under the same legal definition in India.

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Q2. IS IT THE SAME AS SMOKING A CIGARETTE?

Not quite — but that does not make it safe. The key difference is combustion. A traditional cigarette burns tobacco, producing smoke that contains chemicals, including tar and carbon monoxide. A vape heats liquid without burning it, so there is no tar and no smoke in the traditional sense.

This led to early claims — heavily promoted by the vaping industry — that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to smoking. A widely cited 2015 report by England’s Royal College of Physicians suggested vapes could be up to 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes. That figure has since been disputed and significantly qualified by more recent research.

Q3. IS VAPING ACTUALLY HARMFUL TO HEALTH?

Yes — and the evidence keeps growing.

LUNGS: Research has found that vaping is associated with lung inflammation, reduced lung function, and respiratory symptoms. Non-smokers who vape have nearly double the risk of developing respiratory symptoms compared to those who neither smoke nor vape. A serious condition called EVALI — E-cigarette or Vaping product use-Associated Lung Injury — has been documented globally, including fatal cases. It was an EVALI outbreak in the United States in 2019, with hundreds hospitalised and dozens dead — mostly young people — that partly triggered India’s decision to ban vaping that same year.

NICOTINE ADDICTION: Most vapes contain nicotine, often in high concentrations. Nicotine is highly addictive. Young people who start vaping are significantly more likely to move to cigarettes, research consistently shows. This gateway effect is the single biggest concern cited by governments that have chosen to ban rather than regulate.

HEART AND CIRCULATION: Nicotine raises heart rate and blood pressure. Long-term cardiovascular effects of vaping are still being studied, but early findings are not reassuring.

FLAVOURINGS: Many flavour chemicals used in e-liquids are safe to eat but potentially harmful when heated and inhaled. Diacetyl, used in some flavourings, has been linked to a condition called “popcorn lung” — a scarring of the small airways.

UNKNOWN LONG-TERM EFFECTS: Vaping as a mass phenomenon is barely 15 years old. The long-term consequences — including cancer risk — are simply not yet fully known. That uncertainty itself is a serious public health concern.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently maintained that e-cigarettes are harmful and not safe alternatives to tobacco.

Q4. IS VAPING LEGAL IN INDIA?

Is Vaping Legal in India? The answer is No. India banned vaping in September 2019, when the central government promulgated an ordinance under then-Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. It was converted into a formal law — the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act, 2019, universally known as PECA — passed by Parliament and notified in December 2019.

The government’s stated reasoning was threefold: protect public health, prevent a new wave of nicotine addiction from establishing itself — especially among youth — and stop the vaping industry from gaining the kind of foothold in India that the tobacco industry had over decades.

India’s decision was bold in its timing. It acted at the precise moment the rest of the world was watching the American EVALI outbreak unfold. Rather than wait and then regulate, India chose a preemptive outright ban. Whether that was the right call is debated. That it was a deliberate call is not.

Q5. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE LAW PROHIBIT — AND WHAT IS THE PUNISHMENT?

So, if the answer to ‘Is Vaping Legal in India’ is No, then what is the law. The law is comprehensive. Under PECA 2019, all of the following are prohibited:

— Production and manufacture of e-cigarettes in India

— Import and export

— Transport, sale, and distribution

— Storage of any stock for commercial purposes

— Advertisement, direct or indirect

Crucially, personal possession and use are also covered. You do not need to be a seller to fall foul of the law. Simply having a vape on your person is an offence.

PUNISHMENT:

— First offence: Imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh, or both

— Repeat offence: Imprisonment of up to three years, and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh

Authorised officers — including police — have powers to search premises, seize stocks, and detain persons suspected of violating the law.

In Riyan Parag’s case, the BCCI fine of 25 per cent of his match fee — estimated at roughly Rs 14-25 lakh depending on how his Rs 14 crore IPL contract is calculated per match — is actually a steeper financial hit than the Rs 1 lakh ceiling under PECA. But he faces no criminal consequence under the law, because no one has chosen to invoke it.

Q6. THEN WHY IS IT SO OPENLY VISIBLE — IN CHANDIGARH, DELHI, EVERYWHERE?

This is the central irony of India’s vaping ban. The law exists. Enforcement largely does not.

Vapes flow into India through grey-market channels — brought in as personal baggage by travellers, ordered through foreign websites, or smuggled in bulk. Because the devices are small and compact, seizure at entry points is inconsistent. Once inside the country, they circulate freely through college networks, parties, and informal supply chains.

The Parag incident laid this bare in the most public way possible. The law is known. It is simply not taken seriously.

This enforcement gap is not unique to India. Australia has some of the world’s strictest vaping laws on paper. Yet investigations have found vapes openly on sale in dozens of outlets on single high streets. A ban without enforcement infrastructure does not eliminate a product — it drives it underground and removes any quality control in the process.

Q7. WHAT ACTION HAS THE BCCI TAKEN AGAINST RIYAN PARAG?

The BCCI on Thursday confirmed that Parag has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point. He was found to have breached Article 2.21 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct for Players and Team Officials — the clause that covers conduct bringing the game into disrepute.

The penalty is classified as a Level 1 offence under IPL rules, the lowest tier of misconduct. A Level 1 breach typically results in a fine between 10 and 50 per cent of match fee and one demerit point. Four demerit points within 24 months triggers an automatic one-match suspension.

Notably, on-field umpires Tanmay Srivastava and Nitin Menon did not flag the incident to match referee Amit Sharma immediately after the game — they reported it only after visual evidence from the broadcast surfaced online. It was social media, not the officiating system, that set the process in motion.

As for the law: under PECA 2019, Parag’s act of vaping — regardless of where it occurred — constitutes an offence. There is sufficient visual evidence. Whether any police authority chooses to act is another matter entirely.

Q8. HOW DOES INDIA’S BAN COMPARE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD?

The world is broadly split into three camps:

COUNTRIES WHERE VAPING IS COMPLETELY BANNED (like India):

Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Nepal, Qatar, Turkey, and several others. Thailand enforces its ban aggressively — up to five years in jail for possession. Singapore is similarly strict with on-the-spot fines and criminal liability.

COUNTRIES WHERE IT IS LEGAL BUT REGULATED:

The United States regulates vaping through the FDA — age restricted to 21-plus, flavour bans in many states, mandatory premarket product approval. The United Kingdom permitted vaping as a harm-reduction tool for adult smokers for years, though it banned disposable vapes from June 2025. Canada permits vaping for adults with strict marketing restrictions. European Union countries operate under the Tobacco Products Directive — nicotine caps, tank size limits, mandatory health warnings.

COUNTRIES WITH UNUSUAL APPROACHES:

Australia moved to a prescription-only model — vapes are obtainable only through a pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription, effectively banning casual use while allowing therapeutic access. Japan bans nicotine-containing e-liquids but permits nicotine-free devices.

The global trend through 2024-25 has moved decisively towards tightening. Belgium became the first EU country to ban disposable vapes in January 2025. France followed in February 2025. The UK extended its ban to all single-use vapes from June 2025.  

Q9. SHOULD INDIA LEGALISE AND REGULATE RATHER THAN BAN?

This is the live policy debate — with serious voices on both sides.

THE CASE FOR REGULATION: India has roughly 270 million tobacco users. Cigarettes remain freely and legally available. Critics of PECA argue that banning vaping while keeping cigarettes on every street corner is intellectually inconsistent. If vaping carries lower harm than smoking, a regulated legal pathway could help adult smokers switch. The ban, they argue, has not stopped vaping — it has simply made vapes unregulated, untaxed, and of unknown quality.

THE CASE FOR THE BAN: Public health bodies, including the WHO and India’s Health Ministry, argue that India’s large, young, and aspirational population makes it especially vulnerable to a new nicotine addiction wave. The fear is not primarily about existing smokers switching — it is about non-smokers, especially teenagers, picking up vaping because it smells of mango and looks like a status accessory. India chose not to let the industry establish itself before acting. That is a defensible public health position.

THE GROUND REALITY: Whatever the merits of either argument, the Riyan Parag incident has demonstrated something plainly — the ban exists on paper, but barely in practice. An IPL captain vaped in a dressing room on live television and was reported not by the officials in the building, but by the internet. The more urgent conversation may not be whether to ban, but whether the ban, as it currently stands, means anything at all.

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