About AVI
Founded in 2016 by former smokers who quit through vaping, AVI — also known online as VapeIndia — is India's leading consumer advocacy voice for tobacco harm reduction (THR): a volunteer-run group of vaping advocates working for Indians' right to access lower-risk alternatives to combustible tobacco. Our focus now spans smokeless nicotine too: an estimated 200 million Indians use smokeless tobacco, roughly twice the number who smoke (GATS-2) — a burden that makes India, and South Asia more broadly, one of the regions where tobacco harm reduction policy matters most.
AVI is one of roughly 50 volunteer-run consumer advocacy groups for safer nicotine worldwide — among them ETHRA in Europe, ARDT Iberoamérica in Latin America, and CASA in Africa. AVI's director served as president of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO, UN observer status) from July 2020, representing Indian and Global South consumers at forums including the Global Forum on Nicotine, and in consumer marches and advocacy events held on the sidelines of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — keeping India's experience in front of the people who set global policy.
Few consumer bodies in the Global South match AVI's record: litigation across more Indian courts than any other THR group, a citizen movement that's taken its case to government and the public, and India's experience carried onto the international stage. See litigation, press coverage, and testimonials from the people this work is for.
Governing Board
- Samrat Chowdhery — long-time journalist who has worked at India's top newspapers. Founder-director of AVI.
- Dhaval Gogate — Pune-based optometrist and healthcare-IT professional; advises on the medical and clinical-evidence side of AVI's harm reduction advocacy.
- Maneesh Kasera — Kolkata-based IT entrepreneur; a longtime advocate for consumer access to safer nicotine alternatives.
- Olivier Vulliamy — Goa-based media professional; advocates for harm reduction as a former smoker who switched to vaping.
- Kanav Rishi Kumar — mechanical engineer; advocates for the harm-reduction potential of safer nicotine technologies.
- Shreyas Madhan — Chennai-based architect and entrepreneur; advocates for smokers' access to safer alternatives.
What we do
Litigation
Organising and fighting legal challenges to state and national bans on safer nicotine alternatives.
Public awareness
Raising public awareness and correcting misinformation in media coverage of vaping and harm reduction.
Evidence library
Building an accessible record of research for policymakers, journalists and the public.
See our litigation and press coverage for the record of this work.
How AVI is funded and governed
AVI itself is not a registered legal entity. Domestic contributions in support of AVI's advocacy work are received and accounted for through Harm Reduction Policy & Research Pvt. Ltd. (HRPR), a private limited company registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This arrangement keeps contributions on the books of an audited, taxed entity rather than a personal account.
Contributions are recorded as company income, audited annually and taxed accordingly. AVI accepts no funding from tobacco or nicotine manufacturers — overseas support is considered only as contracted, invoiced project work. See Contribute for the full funding mechanism and disclosures.