Indian cigarette factories halted over health warning rules

VST Industries

01/04/2016 14:33

NEW DELHI, April 1 (Reuters) - Indian cigarette makers have 
shut their factories from Friday due to ambiguity over new 
warning rules on packs, a leading industry lobby group said on 
Friday. 
    The Tobacco Institute of India, which says its members 
account for 98 percent of local sales of duty-paid cigarettes, 
said in a statement it estimated the production halt would cause 
the industry a loss of 3.5 billion rupees ($53 million) a day. 
    The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that 
India must implement rules on printing larger health warnings on 
cigarette and other tobacco packs, days after a parliamentary 
panel called for a reduction in the size of the proposed 
warnings to protect the industry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N16V3YV 
($1 = 66.3987 Indian rupees) 
 
 (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Alexander Smith) 
 ((devidutta.tripathy@thomsonreuters.com; +91 84518 40430; 
Reuters Messaging: 
devidutta.tripathy.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDIA TOBACCO/