MUMBAI: It may not be in time for Saturday’s “Gatari Amavasya”, when people temporarily graduate to stronger drinks before the dry days of Shravan, but it promises a headier experience in the near future for those who find mild, ready-to-drink (RTD)
liquor lacking in potency. On Friday, the state allowed a stronger category of RTD liquors to be sold in the market.
The state government allowed manufacturers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) to introduce the new, stronger RTD category with 8% pure spirit (alcohol) content. The minimum age for consumption of RTD is 21 years, just like it is for
beer. On the other hand, for hard liquor consumption a person needs to be 25 years old and be in possession of a drinking permit.
While the new RTD category will deliver more kick to party animals, it will also mean competition for strong beer, which has about the same alcohol content as the newly created RTD category. The only difference would be that beer is a fermented brew and has naturally processed alcohol content while IMFL has an artificially added dose of pure spirit in it, said senior excise officials.
In the case of IMFL of the milder RTD kind that is already available, only brands with 5% pure spirits were allowed to be sold so far. On the other hand, beer comes in both the mild variety with 5% alcohol level and the stronger variety with 8% alcohol level.
Now, bottles of the stronger category of RTD liquor, when they hit the market, are expected to be priced at the same level as beer brands with comparable alcohol level already available in the market. This will be made possible by friendlier tax rates as these categories will have a levy of 200% rather than the 300% rate for IMFL.
“The price of 650 ml strong RTD liquor will be close to that of 650 ml bottle of strong beer,” the excise official said. “Currently, the price range of beer bottle stands between Rs 180 and Rs 230.”
Sources in Mantralaya said the proposal to introduce the new category had been pending with the government for fiove to six years. “Since it involved addition of pure spirits, it was put on the back burner by the administrators in Mantralaya. The officials were sceptical about whether such an addition of pure spirits would be healthier than the fermented spirits in beer.”
The state notification introducing the new, stronger category of mild liquor defines it as “any foreign liquor other than fermented liquor having alcoholic strength exceeding 5% volume by volume (equivalent to 8.75% of proof spirit) but not exceeding 8% volume by volume (equivalent to 14% of proof spirit)”.
It said that the tax will be “200% of the manufacturing cost or Rs 200 per bulk litre of alcohol contents, whichever is higher”. The milder RTD liquors and mild beer are taxed at 175% of the manufacturing cost or Rs 42 per bulk litre of alcohol contents, whichever is higher.
Patrons in south Mumbai bars said that IMFL was taxed more than beer in western countries in order to promote drinks with lower artificially added pure spirits, and the decision to create a sub-category in the RTD category of hard liquor and taxing it to bring its cost at par with beer would help young people get more bang for their buck. Beers mostly have naturally processed alcohol in them after a long courseof fermentation.
Sources in the state administration said the formation of the new RTD category would lead to revenue losses for the government. A source said IMFLs are taxed heavily and are due for another tax hike after seven years now.
“Bringing the new RTDs taxation closer to that of beer will affect the revenue which hard liquor would otherwise had earned for the government. Normally taxes are hiked every two to three years. This time, though, the taxes have been increased for beer and country liquor, while IMFLs seem to have been spared following some lobbying at higher level,” a source said.
Representative image
