Paper stocks were trading lower on Thursday after a Reuters report on Wednesday said that the government has dropped the plan of imposing a blanket ban on single-use plastic items. The report claimed that the plan was dropped as it was "too disruptive for the industry at a time when it is coping with an economic slowdown and job losses".

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Star Paper Mills and Ruchika Papers tumbled 10 percent each today, while JK Paper shed over 9 percent. Orient Paper and International Paper fell around 7 percent each whereas SI Paper Mills, Malu Paper Mills, Balkrishna Paper, Genus Paper, Padumjee Paper, West Coast Paper, and Yash Paper fell around 5 percent each. In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.5 percent or 205 points at 38,101.

The plan was for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to outlaw six items on Wednesday, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as part of a broader campaign to rid India of single-use plastics by 2022.

But two officials told Reuters that there would be no immediate move to ban plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets and instead the government would try to curb their use.

For now, the government will ask states to enforce existing rules against storing, manufacturing and using some single-use plastic products such as polythene bags and styrofoam, Chandra Kishore Mishra, the top bureaucrat at the ministry of environment, told Reuters.

The government's proposed countrywide ban had dismayed consumer firms, which use plastic in packaging for everything from sodas and biscuits to ketchup and shampoo.

The Confederation of Indian Industry, a lobby group, said the move had become an existential issue for several economic sectors because alternatives were not immediately available.

Prasar Bharati New Service, however, has said that there was no blanket ban in the works and added that the prime minister's appeal has always been about a mass-movement against the use of single-use plastic.

There was NEVER a blanket ban in the works against single use plastic. PM’s appeal and thrust has always been about a mass-movement against the scourge of single use plastics

— Prasar Bharati News Services (@PBNS_India) October 2, 2019

(Inputs from Reuters)

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