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What's sobering the spirit of the alcohol business?
Mint Mumbai
|November 04, 2025
Alcohol sales have been subdued for a while amid slowing consumer spending, and higher taxes in key states.
July-September was a mixed bag. Heavy rains and weak spending hurt wine, and beer sales. Mint looks at how sales fared in the past quarter and what lies ahead.
1 How did rains affect alcohol sales?
Heavy monsoon rains hurt beer sales in the September quarter. United Breweries, the maker of Kingfisher beer, reported a 3% year-on-year fall. Three of its breweries were flooded due to intense rains, forcing it to rely on contract manufacturers, further hurting sales. The non-stop rains also dampened demand for other beverages such as colas, juices, and packaged water this year. Cola majors PepsiCo and Coca Cola said runs subdued their sales in India in the September quarter, as did PepsiCo bottler Varun Beverages, whose volumes in India remained flat. Rains also compressed the sales of Dabur's Real juices.
2 How have big states upset alcohol makers?
This story is from the November 04, 2025 edition of Mint Mumbai.
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