Bidi smoking costs India over Rs 80,000 crore in ill health and early deaths every year which is equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the goods and services (GDP) the country produces and more than two per cent of its total health spend, says a study.

Direct costs - tests, drugs, doctors' fees, hospital stays, and transport - make up around a fifth of this total with the remainder made up of indirect costs - accommodation for relatives/carers and loss of household income showed the findings published in the journal Tobacco Control.