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Post bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, fresh efforts were made to urge the new State of Telangana also, by representations to government officials and relevant ministers and other related bureaucrats, about the injustice to domestic wines and stifling the industry. Governments in both the States gave a patient hearing to the representation.
Maharashtra and Karnataka State governments have generally encouraged the wine consumption and production by providing a separate license for wine sales. Andhra Pradesh, which has historically been known for excellent terroir during at least the last 3 centuries, especially in the Deccan Plateau, has lagged behind due to the government apathy and myopic view to increase revenue by increasing taxes.
The new policy does not affect or change the excise duty structure but it will still help bring down the prices of domestic wines. Here are some of the prices indicated as before/now inclusive of Taxes.VAT on Imported wines remains unchanged:
| Sula Cab Shiraz |
1160/940 |
| Sula Chenin Blanc |
1035/840 |
| Sula Satori |
1135/920 |
| Sula Brut |
1290/1045 |
| Four Seasons |
750/610 |
| Madera |
560/450 |
The reduction is expected to increase consumption of domestic wines and may even attract investment in new wineries, generating fresh employment. Higher sales due to reduction of VAT will also help increase the tax revenues in the government coffers as well, due to higher sales.
Kishan had been in the wine industry for the last 17 years before jumping the wine boat and boarding the Carlsberg beer ship this year. He worked with Indage from 1998 to 2004. He helped Sula launch its portfolio in 2005 in Andhra Pradesh and continued working with them till 2013. Joining Charosa Wineries later as the Channel Manager, he helped the Dindori-based winery launch their wines in Telangana in 2014 till he joined Carlsberg Beer a few months back, and has been following up with the two governments regarding the tax reduction plea and keeping delWine constantly in the loop-even after quitting the wine industry.
Pedhapally claims that this has been his second unique achievement. Earlier he had lobbied hard for the reduction of label registration fees that was eventually reduced from Rs. 200,000 to 10,000 per label in 2005.
A similar plea was made to the newly formed Telangana Government in June 2014. According to reports, the VAT is being reduced there too and the official notification is expected any time with similar or higher reduction. The Tender documents available for the sale of liquor floated last month mentioned the VAT reduced from 150%-70%. Hopefully, the gazette notification will be in congruence with the documents, though not necessarily. Watch this space for the announcement.
delWine is proud to have been a part of the lobbying in that we kept on motivating Kishan to ‘follow up’ with the government and ‘educate’ them with the wine scenario in the world and more specifically in India where 20% VAT is considered too high and rightly so. But for the time being, the wine producers can breathe better.
Subhash Arora
For the Gazette Notification, click here |