teacher in India. Within 3 decades, the pan masala and gutka industry registered a phenomenal growth from zero to Rs. 25 billion (US$500 million). It is one of the fastest-growing industries, registering 25% to 30% growth per year, with gutka responsible for most of the growth.
A number of unpublished surveys conducted in schools and colleges in India have show that pan masala and guutka are commonly chewed by children and youth, especially in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Bihar. street children have been commonly found to chew gutka all day long. In a survey of 1200 students from junior and degree colleges of Maharashtra, 9.9% took pan masala and 9.6% chewed gutka.
A survey conducted in 1998 among 400 male medical students in Patna, Bihar, India (out of a total of 509)
revealed that about 12.5% were regular users of gutka and 27.5% used pan masala occasionally, while 30.5% used other smokeless tobacco products not containing areca nut.