Is the current economic slowdown affecting the tobacco industry in India?
It is affecting everybody. India has come down from nine per cent annual GDP growth to around 4.5 to five per cent. The countrys exports are down. Consumer products are selling but the premium products are giving way to cheaper ones. But given time, we hope that, with growing incomes in the rural areas, consumption of cigarettes will grow. At the same time, challenging markets enable us to look at different windows of opportunity. Opportunity is always there. I can give you a very good example: with our brand Four Square, we have recently opened the market in West Bengal, which was the forte of ITC. Four Square is showing promise in the region and selling better than our expectations. But investments have been heavy. In the tobacco business you not only need to get the product right but also the distribution and merchandising. How do you see Godfrey Phillips developing in the years ahead? At Godfrey Phillips India, our vision states that we will be the best in tobacco and, when we say
