| What
are the alternatives
One possibility is to open warehouses in the Special
Economic zones where duty free storage is feasible.
Another could be possible if the importers got together
and use a common bonded facility at Dubai where no guarantees
are required. In fact, many importers already use Dubai
and Sri Lanka bonded warehouses without paying any bank
guarantees se for storing duty free good and import
them according to their needs. But this involves extra
costs too.
If government spruced up the CWC- assured temperature
cooled facility for wine storage, this could be a boon
to the new, small importers. But none of the wine importers
I talked to would like to be in that situation. Perhaps,
with some positive steps and some image makeover, this
could be made more acceptable avenue.
Conclusion
All these possibilities are distant dreams. In the
meantime, the show must go on. The government should
tighten its grip on the erring importers but unnecessary
financial burden will be a regressive step in the era
of liberalisation.
This year would be best forgotten by the importers
who are facing a Mount Everest in Maharashtra, the duties
have actually gone up for premium wines and now they
have to put all their savings into arranging bank guarantees
rather than the business. In the stock market parlance
the wine market going through a bull phase has suddenly
turned bearish and needs government support to come
out of this phase.
Subhash Arora
September 22, 2007
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