The notification says, "Each health warning has been specified in English and regional languages. Not more than two languages can be used on a single pack. Every person engaged directly or indirectly in the production, supply, import and distribution of tobacco products should ensure that every package has the specified health warning. The warnings will have to occupy 40% of the principal display area of the pack.

None of the elements of the specified warning are severed, covered or hidden in any manner when the packet is sealed. No package can be sold unless it carries the health warnings."

Experts say the mild pictorial warnings would defeat its purpose -- of scaring away smokers and deterring them from smoking.

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss wanted pictures with shock value -- like those depicting gory images of cancerous tumours, rotting teeth and diseased throats -- that would make smokers quit.

Poonam Singh, deputy regional director of World Health Organisation, southeast Asia, told the Times of India that in India, there was widespread ignorance about the risks of smoking. "Ill effects of smoking appear slowly. So unless diseases like tuberculosis and lung cancer strike, people don't accept that smoking is dangerous," Singh added.