NEW DELHI: Tobacco companies , already in the frying pan because of an impending ban on the sale of loose cigarettes , may be about to be tossed into the fire in the coming weeks with the government planning to bar them from using their social outreach activities to earn goodwill.The government’s planned new anti-tobacco legislation, news of which sent cigarette stocks crashing on Tuesday, will discourage manufacturers from “earning goodwill” through their legally mandated Corporate Social Responsibility CSR ) activities, officials familiar with its drafting have told ET. This could choke off the few remaining outlets for earning societal goodwill for these firms, which have traditionally tended to publicise their social outreach efforts not least because of strict curbs on advertising and marketing their products.Turning the screws further, the government’s new legislation will also disallow restaurants, hotels and airports from creating designated smoking areas and extend the ban on tobacco promotion to media platforms such as mobile phones and the Internet. The ban on designated smoking spaces, however, will not extend to international airports as the journey between two countries and the waiting time in between connecting flights is usually long.The government, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, said the health ministry was considering banning the sale of loose cigarettes and raising the minimum legal age of tobacco consumption, sending shares of tobacco companies sharply lower. The country’s largest cigarette maker ITC closed 5% down on Tuesday, but on Wednesday it recovered some of the losses to close 2.14% up.ITC, which spent about Rs 80 crore in funding CSR activities in 2013, did not want to comment on the proposed amendment. The conglomerate has been spending roughly 1% of its average net profit on CSR activities such as e-Choupal, which helps in direct procurement of agricultural produce from rural farmers. Tobacco producers Godfrey Phillips and VST Industries could not be reached for comment.The government’s written reply in the Rajya Sabha noted that the health ministry has accepted most of the recommendations made by an expert panel on curbing tobacco consumption, and officials said the ministry is preparing a Cabinet note on the final amendments to the Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and will soon seek feedback from other ministries. The final note will go to the Cabinet in fourfive weeks.ET had first reported the constitution of an expert panel by the then health minister Harsh Vardhan on August 18 and its subsequent recommendations on September 10. Although the committee, headed by former principal secretary of Delhi Ramesh Chandra, had suggested some radical changes to the law, not all could pass muster with the minister. Government sources say the new minister, JP Nadda, has not made any changes to the draft left behind by his predecessor.The final amendments approved by Vardhan, before he was moved to the science and technology ministry in the latest Cabinet expansion, also include a clause to reduce interference or influence of tobacco companies in conception and implementation of anti-tobacco policies, a provision to create special courts to try offences under COTPA and also a new monitoring authority — called the National Tobacco Control Organisation.The ministry has also decided to introduce a new section empowering the government to suspend or cancel the licence of manufacturers, importers, suppliers, distributers or sellers for violating provisions relating to sale of cigarettes to minors, ban on advertisement and health warnings on cigarette packets. That apart, the ministry has agreed to discontinue the practice of displaying permissible limits for nicotine and tar contents on cigarette packets. “This practice can be misused to promote a tobacco product as a ‘safer’ product,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.The anti-tobacco legislation is being amended to make it more compliant with WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) — a treaty that lays down a set of universal standards to limit the use of tobacco worldwide. India ratified FCTC in 2004, a year after passing its own anti-tobacco legislation. “The exemption of having designated smoking areas, for instance, goes against FCTC guidelines for providing complete protection to non-smokers from tobacco smoke. Hence, the proposed ban on such areas as well,” said an official.