Philip Morris takes aim at young people in India, and health officials are fuming

LIGHTING UP: A young man lights a cigarette along a road in New Delhi. Philip Morris says in internal documents it wants to win the "hearts and minds" of smokers aged 18 to 24 in India. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi--TOBACCO INSPECTOR: S. K. Arora, the chief tobacco control officer in Delhi, has spent the past three years pulling down cigarette advertisements at local kiosks. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

TOBACCO TOLL: A man lights a cigarette at a roadside stall in the old quarters of Delhi. Close to one million people a year in India die from tobacco use, according to government data. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi--1. A slide from a Philip Morris training manual shows the kinds of people the company aims to target for Marlboro sales in India. LAS = legal age smokers.

The tobacco giant is pushing Marlboros in colorful ads at kiosks and handing out free smokes at parties frequented by young adults - tactics that break India’s anti-smoking laws, government officials say. Internal documents uncovered by Reuters illuminate the strategy.

By ADITYA KALRA, PARITOSH BANSAL, TOM LASSETER and DUFF WILSON-Filed July 18, 2017, 11 a.m. GMT

NEW DELHI – S. K. Arora spent more than three years trudging through the Indian summer heat and monsoon rains to inspect tobacco kiosks across this sprawling megacity, tearing down cigarette advertisements and handing out fines to store owners for putting them up.

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