Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw get into spat on Twitter over e-cigarette ban

A day after the Union Cabinet banned e-cigarettes in India with immediate effect, entrepreneur and Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw took to Twitter to comment on a post saying, "E-cigarettes banned, says Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman - should this not come from the Minister of Health? How about banning gutka too? How about MoF announcing some fiscal measures to revive economy?"

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw wondered why the ban on e-cigarettes was made by the Union Cabinet and not by the Health Minister. The Biocon chief went on to ask if the announcement should have come from the Minister of Health Dr Harsh Vardhan. Shaw also asked why was the Ministry of Finance not announcing fiscal measures to revive the economy.

Reacting to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's tweet on why Sitharaman was present on a cabinet decision on e-cigarettes, which was not related to the Finance Ministry, the Finance Minister replied to the Biocon chief and explained why she was present at the briefing.

"Kiranji, a few things. This press conference was dedicated to Cabinet decisions. I began by saying that I was there in my capacity as Chair of the GoM which has dealt with the matter. @drharshvardhan is out of country for an international meet," the finance minister posted.

Sitharaman added: "Cabinet Minister/s join @PrakashJavdekar, the I&B Minister, when required. Health Secretary was also with me, explaining details. These are protocols, as you know, which govt press conferences follow."

"As Finance Minister -- you might've observed -- I've been working on and regularly speaking about measures we have been taking on matters of the economy," tweeted Sitharaman.

On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet banned e-cigarettes in India with immediate effect. This means production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and any advertising related to e-cigarettes are now banned following the cabinet's approval.

Sitharaman said the move will help to protect the population, especially the youth and children, from the risk of addiction through E-cigarettes.