It was not yet being used commercially on a large scale, he added.

'In India there is a general belief that plastic bags have been banned. The entire world uses them and they came as an alternative to paper bags,' the minister said. He added that paper bags would lead to cutting of trees.

The government would insist on maintaining a certain thickness and the ban was on recycled plastic bags 'but not on plastics per se'.

He said the Himachal Pradesh government had announced that it would ban plastics from Aug 15, while Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and West Bengal have barred its use.