The notification is expected to be announced soon- as early as next Monday. The formal decision has apparently been taken already at the highest level.
K-Form is the registration requirement by any-out-of –state winery that wants to sell wine in Maharashtra. Essentially it affects Bangalore based Grover Vineyards since other out-of-state-wineries have insignificant stature. The applicant has to shell out Rs.7.5 lakhs annually to apply for this form in order to sell wines in the state. This has been one of the most bizarre and unjust laws of the land that would make any conscientious citizen sick to the stomach on comprehending the implications. This amounts to discrimination of the out-of-state wineries and treating them as second-class citizens.
Rajeev Samant of Sula is often accused of being the main supportive of the policy though Indage Vintners has been more established and has had more political clout. He says, ‘I believe this policy is completely anti-national and must be scrapped. In fact, he informed delWine that a group of Nashik producers had met Mr. Sharad Pawar recently and again impressed upon him the need to scrap this law.’
The Nashik producers are not being exactly charitable. Because of the existence of this policy which also includes imposition of a special fee amounting to Rs. 150 a bottle, based on the declared manufacturing cost, the Karnataka government has imposed a new policy which forces out-of-state wines to shell out an additional amount of around Rs.280, including the cascading effect of VAT. Grover Wines which benefits the most with this policy is accused of masterminding the policy as much as Sula is credited with influencing many of Maharashtra wine policies.
With the removal of this K-Form, Maharashtra producers hope to have Karnataka reverse its policy stand. However, it would be implicit in this optimism that Maharashtra would also waive off the payment of this special duty. In fact, Kapil Grover openly admitting the anguish he has been subjected to, all these years and confirms that he had given the actual figures to the Karnataka government for the annual damage being done to him by being an out-of-state producer in Maharashtra, despite his being a resident of Mumbai.
Another factor that may need to be resolved is that of the VAT which has been reduced from 25% to 4% yesterday. The out-of-state wineries are apparently being subjected to a reduced VAT of 20%, just like the imported wines.
In any case, the waiving off the K-Form requirement would be a welcome step that the likes of Grover Vineyards would welcome.
Cav. Subhash Arora |