Indian-made foreign liquor's sales may drop due to price hike

BEER AND WINE makers are likely to gain from Maharashtra's excise duty exemption, as sales could grow by at least 10% year-on-year, industry executives told FE.

- VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO

The state government on Tuesday raised the excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from three times to 4.5 times the manufacturing cost, which works out to a hike of around 50-60%, industry executives said. This could prompt alcohol consumers to shift to cheaper liquor variants at the lower end of the market.