India's top court tells tobacco industry packs must carry bigger warnings (updated)

VST Industries

04/05/2016 09:06

* India's top court grants no stay on tobacco packaging 
rules 
    * Pleas challenging new rules to be heard by a state court 
    * Tobacco industry calls new rules impractical 
    * Shares of cigarette manufacturers fall after court order 
 
 (Adds quotes, context, shares) 
    By Aditya Kalra 
    NEW DELHI, May 4 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on 
Wednesday said the tobacco industry must adhere to federal rules 
requiring stringent health warnings on cigarette packs, in a 
major setback for the $11 billion industry that opposes the new 
policy.     
    The court also turned down an industry plea to stay the 
implementation of the new tobacco-control rules introduced from 
April 1, which require health warnings to cover 85 percent of a 
cigarette pack's surface, up from 20 percent earlier.   
    The tobacco industry "should not violate any rule prevailing 
as of today," the two-judge bench said during the 45-minute 
hearing inside a packed courtroom in New Delhi.  
    It also directed the high court of Karnataka state to hear 
dozens of pleas filed against the new rules in several Indian 
courts and decide on the matter within six weeks.  
    Last month, Indian tobacco companies, some backed by foreign 
"Big Tobacco", briefly shut down production as the new rules 
came into effect. The industry says the new policy is 
impractical and says it will boost cigarette smuggling. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N17I31W 
    But the government still backs the rules that are aimed at 
reducing tobacco consumption. Ranjit Kumar, solicitor general of 
India, told the court New Delhi was committed to the new rules 
and opposes any stay on their implementation.  
    The Supreme Court declined an industry lawyer's request that 
a stay obtained by a lower court be allowed to continue. 
    Shares in India's biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd  ITC.NS , 
part-owned by British American Tobacco  BATS.L , fell nearly 1 
percent after the court directive. U.S.-based Philip Morris 
International's  PM.N  India partner Godfrey Phillips  GDFR.NS  
pared gains but was trading 1.3 percent higher. 
    Officials from the Tobacco Institute of India, an industry 
lobby group whose members include ITC and Godfrey, were not 
immediately available for comment.  
    It was not immediately clear when the companies will start 
printing bigger warnings on their packs. 
    Smoking kills more than 1 million people a year in India, 
according to BMJ Global Health. The World Health Organization 
says tobacco-related diseases cost India $16 billion annually. 
 
 (Editing by Douglas Busvine and Simon Cameron-Moore) 
 ((malini.menon@thomsonreuters.com; +91 11 4954 8028 / +91 11 
3015 8028; Reuters Messaging: 
malini.menon@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDIA TOBACCO/