Alcohol, India: consumption, business
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A: Consumption
Incidence of alcohol consumption
Alcohol consumption in India: 1992-2002
The Times of India, May 17 2015
Sumitra DebRoy
At 55%, India records 3rd highest increase in alcohol consumption
A global study has found that alcohol consumption in India has risen by 55% over a period of 20 years.More worryingly, youngsters are being initiated to alcohol much earlier, while more women are indulging in hazardous and binge drinking.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published a report examining the economic and health implications of alcohol use among its 34 member and a few nonmember countries. Among a list of 40 nations, India was placed as high as third, only after the Russian Federation and Estonia, for increase in alcohol intake between 1992 and 2012. Countries that closely followed India were China, Israel and Brazil. The OECD report said heavy drinking was alarmingly on the rise among youth and women in many countries. “An increasing proportion of children experience alcohol and drunkenness at early ages. Girls have caught up with boys in the past 10 years,“ it stated.
The percentage of under-15 boys who haven't had alcohol went down from 44% to 30%, while for girls it decreased from 50% to 31% in the 2000s.
The trend of heavy drinking witnessed among the young of all countries has experts worried. “It can be dangerous and have long-term effects such as habit formation or other chronic conditions,“ said hepatologist Dr Aabha Nagral, who consults with Jaslok Hospital.
Binge drinking among the youth has also been associated with increased possibilities of road accidents and disabilities in the report. Dr P C Gupta, director of Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, quoted a WHO report which said about 30% of Indians consume alcohol, out of which 4-13% are daily consumers and up to 50% of these fall under the category of hazardous drinking.
The OECD researchers evaluated that drinkers from member states were downing an equivalent of over nine litres of pure alcohol per year, which further rose by a few units if home brewed and illegal stocks were taken into account.“All of this amounts to drinking over 100 bottles of wine, or 200 litres of beer, in a year,“ the report stated. Interestingly , Indians featured much lower here as average consumption of pure alcohol hovered around 2.5-3 litres annually .
The findings have set alarm bells ringing within the medical fraternity and health activists who are demanding a national policy to curb alcohol use.
2005-16: gender, age, state and types of liquors consumed
May 19, 2022: The Times of India
The share of Indian men and women drinking alcohol has fallen consistently over the past decade and a half, an analysis of three rounds of National Family Health Surveys shows. Men’s share fell from 32% in 2005-06 to 29% in 2015-16 and then sharply down to 22% in the latest round recorded in 2019-21. Women’s share has consistently stayed low, slipping from just over 2% 15 years ago to about 1% in the last two surveys.
But men in both urban and rural India are drinking more regularly, whereas women are drinking less frequently than five years ago. A smaller percentage of men are drinking in almost all large states except in Himachal Pradesh.
“Most Indians drink to get drunk. So though the share of the population drinking is lower, problem drinking and alcohol dependence are as high as world averages” : Dr Ravindra Rao, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS
Arunachal Pradesh is the only state where more than half the men drink, according to the 2019-21 survey. But that proportion too has come down from 61.1% in NFHS 3, conducted in 2005-06, to 52.6%. The fall has also been steep among Chhattisgarhi men – the share has declined from 52% to 35% in a decade and a half.
Those with no schooling (30%), scheduled tribes (33%), and those aged 35-49 (27%) are the largest groups sorted by education, caste and age.
The highest proportion of women drinkers – 24.2% – is in Arunachal Pradesh, where the home-brewed rice beer called apong is a social drink. The rural-urban gap among women drinkers in this mostly-rural state is also the highest, at more than 11%.
Underage drinking continues, but is lesser
Five states – Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Sikkim, and Puducherry – require a minimum age of 18 to buy alcohol. The minimum age in most other states is 21; Haryana brought it down from 25 to 21 in 2021. Only Meghalaya, Punjab and Delhi have kept the minimum age at 25.
But a survey of 10,000 respondents in Delhi by the Community Against Drunken Driving reported in 2021 that 89% of those below 25 have had alcohol, and more than two-fifths drink 2-4 times a week.
NFHS reports show that teenage boys aged 15-19 have been drinking across India, though their overall share among men who drink has come down from 11% to 5.8% over the 15 years of the three latest survey rounds. The same holds true for girls aged 15-19, but their share too has come down from 1% to 0.2%.
Bengal only large state where urban men drink more
Most drinking averages are driven by rural men, who drink in higher numbers and more frequently than urban men. Only in Nagaland, Goa, Daman and Diu, and West Bengal is this trend reversed among men in the latest survey. Urban women in Ladakh – counted separately for the first time – outstrip their rural counterparts by 2%.
Prohibition not working in any of the 4 states
Of the four states that have banned alcohol, Gujarat imposed the death penalty in 2009 for those making and selling homemade liquors that cause deaths. Bihar imposed prohibition from April 2016, Mizoram from February 1997 (with a gap during 2015-19 when the ban was lifted), and Nagaland from 1989.
Despite the bans, men and women in all four states consume alcohol. Gujarat has issued nearly 60,000 'health permits' to allow residents up to 2021 to drink on medical grounds. But the NFHS-5 data shows that more than 50 times that number admit to having had alcohol.
Though the NFHS, prepared under the Union ministry of health and family welfare, does not give details of the kind of alcohol Indians are drinking, another large-scale household survey on substance abuse commissioned by the ministry of social justice and empowerment does. The highest proportion drinking illicit distilled liquor ( kacchi sharab ) was reported from Bihar, at 30%. Overall, 30% Indians drink country liquor or ‘desi sharaab’, reported the 2019 survey.
Christian, Buddhist men drink harder than others
Among men, alcohol use is the highest – at 47% – among those belonging to religions with smaller populations in India, such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism or those not enumerated as having a religion. Six in 100 Christian and Buddhist men who drink reported drinking almost every day.
Among religions that proscribe alcohol, 30% Sikh men and 6% Muslim men reported drinking. The numbers among women from the communities came in at 0.2% (up from 0 in 2005-06) and almost negligible (down from 0.2%), respectively.
Only 0.8% Hindu women drink – much less than 2.1% Christian and 1.7% Buddhist women – but they drink more frequently than all other major religious groups.
Often-drunk husbands more violent with wives
A third of married women aged 18-49 have faced physical, sexual or emotional violence from their husbands. The most common type of spousal violence is physical (28%), followed by emotional (14%) and sexual (6%).
In Karnataka, almost half the married women reported spousal violence. Telangana, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh reported spousal violence above the national average.
And like around the world, the correlation between husbands getting drunk and spousal violence is high in India. Though correlation does not necessarily imply causation, the link is undeniable.
“We know from research that drinking and domestic violence are related, though the level of causation cannot be precisely measured,” says Dr Ravindra Rao of the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
In India, among women who have faced physical or sexual violence, smaller shares reported that their husbands drank, or drank but didn’t get drunk. But a higher share of wives reported in 2019-21 that their husbands get drunk often.
Problem drinking is near world averages
“Most Indians drink to get drunk. So though the share of the population drinking, or per capita consumption are much lower than world averages, problem drinking and alcohol dependence are as high as the world average,” says Dr Rao.
Dr Rao’s NDDTC prepared the substance abuse survey in 2019 that covered more than 200,000 households across India and reported on a larger segment of the population than NFHS by enumerating those between 10 and 75 years, as compared to the NFHS’s 15-49 age band.
The NDDTC survey showed that 43% of alcohol users – those who have had alcohol in the year before the survey – consume more than four drinks on a single occasion, indicating binge drinking or heavy episodic drinking. Almost 27% get involved in physical fights after drinking, more than a fifth drink during the day, and 4% have suffered road accidents under the influence.
At the national level, about 2.7% are affected by alcohol dependence, the survey concluded, with the highest levels reported from Tripura (13.7%), Arunachal Pradesh (7.2%), Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh (around 6% each).
It comes down to a truism – anything in moderation is alright. Maybe the next NFHS round will get us more nuanced data on it.
2005-21: men, women
From: July 11, 2024: The Times of India
See graphic:
The consumption of alcohol in India among men and women, 2005-21
21.4% of Indians consume alcohol: UNODC
The Times of India, Aug 27 2015
Dipak Dash
United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) report
DRUG MENACE - RTI: 21.4% of Indians consume alcohol 3% of population hooked to cannabis
Punjab, Maharashtra, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are among the top 10 states where consumption of alcohol and narcotic drugs is higher than the rest of the country, according to a RTI response from home ministry.
Quoting a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), the National Institute of Social Defence, a wing of MHA, has submitted that 21.4% Indians consume alcohol while 3% hooked to cannabis. The RTI was filed by a Delhi resident Ved Pal following recent cases of lives lost due to consumption of illicit alco hol in the country.
The RTI reply also mentions the list of 19 states and Union Territories that are in “major grasp“ of alcohol and drugs.Seven of these states are from north India including Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and UP . Except Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, all other states from the northeast are in the list.
“Governments take the credit that they have earned crores of rupees through taxes and excise duty from the sale of alcohol.But governments should not be into this money making business. The entire amount that they have earned so far should be spent on creating awareness against consumption of alcohol and the rehabilitation of the addicts,“ Ved Pal said.
The UNODC study on “National Survey on Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India“ that was released in 2004 had found that alcohol, cannabis and opiates are the major substances of abuse in India and the prevalence of drug abuse among males is significant. It had also found how women face the worst and are under huge burden if any member in their families is addicted to alcohol or drugs.
It had recommended the need to have schemes to attract drug users for treatment and developing programmes for vulnerable groups such as youth, street children and prisoners.
2015: Alcohol consumption in India and the world
From: May 5, 2018: The Times of India
See graphic:
2015- Alcohol consumption in India, China and the world
2016: Indians drinking more, but not to get drunk
The Times of India, September 11, 2016
John Sarkar
Indians are now drinking more, but not to get drunk A change in tastes and a yearning for aspirational lifestyles have led to the increase in sales of wine and beer.Youngsters have fuelled a boom in tequila, sales of which shot up by 10% in 2014-15.
“Gone are the days when youngsters would stay over at a friend's place and down a bottle of whisky or rum, in the fear that they would get scolded at home. These days, it's more about social drinking over good conversation with soft alcohol such as wine and craft beer,“ said Kapil Sekhri, director of Indian wine company Fratelli Wines.“In every sphere of life, the erstwhile feeling that `alcohol is taboo' is fading away.“
Among wines, sales of still light wine showed 17% growth in 2014-15, the highest among all wine segments, driven mainly by value lines of local brands. Growth of champagne, however, remained muted with demand for rose increasing. Flavours are keeping the vodka category alive too. While sales of plain vodka are showing a decline, flavoured ones are flying off the shelves mainly due to demand from young consumers. It's the same story with rum, with the flavoured variety finding favour with consumers and growing by 45% in 2014-15.
Aspirations are driving consumers to upgrade too. The trend is stark in whisky with the Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) category showing higher value growth than volume growth, as consumers have traded up to higher price points.
“The changing consumer dynamic with the growth in disposable income is spurring the demand for premium lifestyle brands,“ said Raja Banerji, AVP-marketing, Pernod Ricard India. “With evolving tastes of the discerning consumer, India has become the third fastestgrowing market for all blended scotch in the past five years.“
Beer, the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, is on a high in India as well. Although growth was affected in 2014-15 due to slack in the IT sector in Karnataka and drought in Maharashtra, the country's largest beer state, the category is still growing thanks to consumers not hesitating to experiment.
“The Indian consumer has come a long way and is willing to experiment, willing to choose `taste over testosterone',“ said Ankur Jain, CEO and founder of B9 Beverages that sells Bira 91, a local craft beer.
“Beer is a highly regulated industry , therefore it's not easy to introduce a new brand every now and then. But there is a huge untapped market with potential, which has pushed for emergence of various brands with unique identities.“
Grocery stores: bars ratio, 2016
From: The Times of India, October 15, 2017
See graphic:
Grocery to Bar ratio, India and the world, 2016
New Year revelries, 2017/18
Delhi: liquor worth ₹30cr consumed
Booze worth ₹30cr downed on Dec 31, January 4, 2018: The Times of India
Delhiites partied hard on the eve of New Year, gulping down alcohol worth around Rs 30 crore. “There was a spurt in sale of liquor in the city on December 31. As per our records, the sale of alcohol was around Rs 30 crore that day,” a senior government official said.
“The entire month of December has generated Rs 458 crore for the Delhi government since it was a festive season,” the official added.
In the last financial year, Delhi government had earned a revenue of Rs 4,243 crore from the sale of alcohol.
On New Year’s Eve, a total of 1,752 drunken revellers had been penalised by Delhi Police.
Telangana: Rs 100 crore
January 2, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
Sources said liquor sales were high in unified districts of Nizamabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam apart from Greater Hyderabad.
The excise department earned about 20% more on liquor sale in December this year compared to December 2016.
Hike in liquor rates by the state government a few days ago did not weaken the will of tipplers wanting to usher in New Year in high spirits. This was reflected by the fact that nearly ₹100 crore liquor sales were registered only on December 31, 2017. And the excise department earned about 20% more on liquor sale in December this year compared to December 2016.
"In December, the excise department earned ₹1,645 crore, which is about 20% more than December 2016. Our department is getting district-wise details," excise commissioner RV Chandravadan told TOI on Monday. Sources said, while official figures are still being tabulated, indications are that sale of liquor on New Year Eve alone would easily cross ₹100 crore.
Sources said liquor sales were high in unified districts of Nizamabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam apart from Greater Hyderabad. Officials and retail outlet owners feared the average 10% rate hike on liquor would have had an adverse impact on sales during New Year celebrations. "Going by the sales, it did not have any impact," they said.
"Over 2,200 retail outlets owners in the state have lifted ₹75 crore worth of liquor a day from December 26 from 17 depots. These six days alone contributed nearly ₹450 crore sales from depots," an official of Telangana State Beverage Corporation Limited (TSBCL) said.
New Year revelries, 2018/19
Delhi
January 9, 2019: The Times of India
Delhi guzzled 16.5L bottles of booze on Dec 31
Delhiites gulped down over 16.5 lakh liquor bottles on the eve of New Year. A Delhi government official said there was a spurt in sale of liquor in the city on December 31.
2019-20
Rema Nagarajan, December 16, 2020: The Times of India
From: Rema Nagarajan, December 16, 2020: The Times of India
You might associate Goa with booze and partying, but a higher proportion of people in Telangana consume alcohol than in the former. And a larger percentage of men drink in Bihar, a state under prohibition, than in Maharashtra. When it comes to tobacco consumption, the northeast is the region that tops the charts, according to data from the National Family Health Survey 2019-20.
Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir, in that order, have the least consumption of alcohol among men. There is no way of knowing if there has been any change in the consumption of alcohol or tobacco since the last survey as the two data sets are not comparable. In the 2015-16 survey, the data pertained to the age group 15-49 years whereas in the latest survey it is for all above 15 years.
When it comes to women’s consumption of alcohol, Sikkim and Assam, with 16.2% and 7.3%, respectively, top the charts. But here, too, Telangana comes next, topping Goa.
Barring Telangana and Goa, most of the states at the top are in the northeast. The consumption among rural women is significantly higher than in urban areas in most states, which could also be due to less hesitation in admitting to alcohol consumption compared to urban women. This difference in prevalence of alcohol consumption exists between rural and urban men too, but the difference is not as high as among women.
In all states, consumption of tobacco, which includes chewing tobacco and smoking, is much higher than consumption of alcohol. Despite the established connection between tobacco consumption and cancer, the use remains widely prevalent.
Mizoram tops list in tobacco consumption
In India, studies had shown a higher prevalence of tobacco chewing than smoking. The highest consumption of tobacco is in Mizoram, where 77.8% of men and almost 62% of women consume it. Tobacco use is highest among men and women in northeastern states, including Assam. It is lowest in Kerala (17%) and Goa (18%) in the case of men, though Himachal has the lowest consumption of tobacco among women, just 1.7% Tracking of alcohol and tobacco consumption was started from the last survey with growing recognition of the burden of non-communicable diseases in India.
2019-21
Alcohol use in India, 2019-21
Durgesh.NandanJha , August 9, 2022: The Times of India
From: Durgesh.NandanJha , August 9, 2022: The Times of India
New Delhi: A study published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism suggests that Indian men who drink are doing so more often, comparing trends from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2019-21 and 2015-16. Among the men who said they drank, 15. 4% said they used alcohol ‘almost every day’ in the latest survey, 43. 5% ‘about once a week’ and 41% ‘less than once a week’. In 2015-16, 12. 4% of male respondents said they drank almost every day while 40. 6% said they drank about once a week. Among women, the study found, 16. 9% said they drank ‘almost every day’ in the latest survey. The proportion of those using alcohol ‘about once a week’ and ‘less than once a week’ was 36. 6 and 46. 6% respectively, the study found. The first two categories registered a fall compared to the 2015-16 survey. “It is a positive sign that fewer people are drinking. But, the study shows how the frequency of drinking among those who consume alcohol has gone up. This needs to be checked to prevent alcohol-related problems,” Dr Yatanpal Singh Balhara, one of the authors of the study, told TOI.
The states of Gujarat (at the time of both NFHS-4 and NFHS-5) and Bihar (at the time of NFHS-5), and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep (at the time of both NFHS-4 and NFHS-5) had prohibition of alcohol consumption.
According to the study report, 0. 4% men in Lakshadweep said they drink while none of the women reported alcohol use. In the state of Bihar, 15. 5% of men and 0. 4% of women reported current use of alcohol. The proportions were 5. 8 and 0. 6% for men and women, respectively for Gujarat, according to the study. “Although there has been a reduction in the proportion of Indian men and women who reported alcohol use between NFHS-4 and NFHS-5, the increase in the proportion of men who reported alcohol use ‘almost every day’ is a finding that requires greater focus and is a need to strengthen the investment in the initiatives targeted at the harms due to alcohol use,” the researchers say.
Poisonous liquor consumption
State-wise position in 2014
The Times of India, Jun 23 2015
The recent hooch tragedy in Mumbai has claimed about 100 lives, perhaps the largest toll caused by consumption of spurious poisonous liquor for the city, crossing the toll of the 2004 Vikhroli incident which killed about 50 people. Data on deaths caused by spurious poisonous liquor shows that hooch has killed 9,986 people in India in the past decade. Tamil Nadu witnessed 1,561 deaths in this period, the highest in the country.It was followed by Punjab, Karnataka and West Bengal. Gujarat, which is a dry state, also witnessed about 900 deaths
See the graphic for details
B: economics, manufacture
IMFL: A history
Jabir , Imperial pints “India Today” 5/6/2017
The British empire may have forced us to pay for our own oppression but it had its compensations. So as the sun flares over another Indian summer, let's raise our chilled glasses to the imperialists who begat Indian beer. The pioneer, apparently, was one Henry Bohle who set up businesses in Meerut and Mussourie in 1825. The latter thrived for some years in the hands of the Mackinnon family, seeding a ferment of hill station breweries that stretched from Murree to Shimla, Kasauli and Ranikhet and on to Darjeeling. Edward Dyer, in particular, bought up or established a chain of breweries in the Himalayas and is credited with launching Asia's first beer brand, 'Lion', which was produced in both Murree and Kasauli. Dyer would sire (and later disown) the notorious Reginald Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh-but that's another story. By the 1880s, another experienced brewer, H.G. Meakin, had set up an extensive empire, buying some of Dyer's factories as well as establishing new ones as far afield as Dalhousie, Kirkee and Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka. The two firms would ultimately merge as Dyer and Meakin in the 1930s.
By 1889, the 25-odd breweries in British India were producing some 5,165,138 gallons a year, (roughly a thousand times less than passes through our national gullets today). And judging by some of the vintage beer labels (yes, it's a thing) treasured by collectors today, there was a lot more variety back then. The Dyer Meakin breweries, for example, offered a range of light and dark ales, a stout, and several 'sparkling beers'. Today, the concern known as Mohan Meakin is sustained by the popularity of its house rum, while johnny-come-lately United Breweries (estd. 1857) dominates India's beer market with bland lagers and knuckleheaded strong beers. Did the British take all the tasty beer with them when they left? Well, the glass may be half empty but look at it this way: they gave us beer, we gave them Vijay Mallya.
The economics of alcohol
Consumption, revenues, types sold, toll: 2016-20
Prabhakar Jha and Kanishk Sharma, April 8, 2021: The Times of India
From: Prabhakar Jha and Kanishk Sharma, April 8, 2021: The Times of India
From: Prabhakar Jha and Kanishk Sharma, April 8, 2021: The Times of India
From: Prabhakar Jha and Kanishk Sharma, April 8, 2021: The Times of India
From: Prabhakar Jha and Kanishk Sharma, April 8, 2021: The Times of India
Sachin Mangal’s face lights up as he talks about his weekend plans. Delhi government’s recent order reducing the drinking age to 21 from the earlier 25 years has added fizz to the 23-year-old engineering student’s plans.
It has also made his life simpler.
“Now my friends and I don’t have to use fake IDs or go to Noida to buy booze,” says Mangal who lives in Dwarka, Delhi. Delhi was among the few states and Union territories that had a higher age bar even as the rest of the country had moved on. For sure the Delhi government, or for that matter any state government, was not acting as a party facilitator. Taxes from alcohol sales add to government revenue.
A huge chunk of revenues that state govts earn is from the sale of liquor
No surprises here as many states in the country get a major chunk of their revenue from sale of liquor.
Uttar Pradesh earned Rs 17,320 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal. Despite the closure of liquor shops for the entire April and part of May in 2020, excise revenue for financial year 2020 is estimated to be Rs 31,517.41 crore, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report.
In simple terms, the government wants more revenue collections from liquor and the move to reduce the drinking age will allow more people to buy booze.
Join the pawri
India's state governments earned around Rs 1.75 lakh crore from excise duty alone in 2019-20, most of which came from liquor sales, according to an RBI report.
The Delhi government earned Rs 6,574 crore in financial year 2019-20, which was about 9.5% of the total estimated revenue, according to the budget presented by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
By lowering the drinking age and thus allowing more people to buy booze the Delhi government hopes to augment the state excise revenue by 20% in the financial year 2021-22. Quoting a Statista research, "the drinks business website" said more than 88% of Indians aged under 25 buy or drink alcohol in some form. By bringing the legal age of drinking to 21, India can add 75 million new consumers by 2020. The report went on to say that in 2016, Indians gulped down 5.4 billion litres of alcohol. The country was expected to cross 6.5 billion litre-mark by 2020.
By lowering the drinking age, Delhi hopes to raise the state excise duty by 20%
The Statista research also reported that the Indian alcohol market is expected to grow annually by 8.7%. Most of the governments want to tap into this potential.
What’s your poison?
The Indian alcohol industry comprises four categories - Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), beer, country liquor and wine. Each of these segments has a sale volume of between 230 million and 260 million cartons per annum, according to a July 2020 report by research firm Medium.
IMFL makes up 36% of the total market by value, beer constitutes 13%, wine a mere 3%, the Statista report said. The report also points out that the country liquor's share in the market is about 48% and is growing at a rate of about 7% per annum.
Adding cheer to the economy
Uttar Pradesh generates its maximum revenue from liquor sales. In the financial year 2019-20, the state generated Rs 31,517.41 crore from alcohol sales. It was followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra at Rs 20,950 crore and Rs 17,477.39 crore respectively, according to the RBI report of 2020.
Twelve states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — account for 75% of liquor consumption in the country, according to the Health and Family Welfare Statistics (HFWS) report of 2019-20.
While some states are raking in moolahs, five states Gujarat, Bihar, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura -- and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep have banned the sale and consumption of alcohol.
On the wagon?
Data show a complete ban on sale and consumption of liquor in two major states - Bihar and Gujarat – haven’t proved to be a deterrent. Bihar's Nitish Kumar government imposed prohibition in 2015 despite generating a whopping Rs 5,000 crore revenue from booze in the financial year 2014-15. But despite the ban, liquor continues to flow in the state through illegal means.
According to Bihar Police, in 2020, illegal liquor — 510,000 litre of IMFL, 455,000 litre of country liquor, 10,000 litre of toddy and over 12,000 litre of beer — was confiscated in the state.
Police seized around 51.7 lakh litre of country liquor and 94.5 lakh litre of IMFL in the state between April 1, 2016 and January 31, 2021.
In states where alcohol is banned, bootlegging continues unabated The latest National Family Health Survey Report-5 for the year 2019-20 has revealed that 15.5% men above 15 years of age drink alcohol in Bihar. Whereas, in Maharashtra, where there is no prohibition, 13.9% men drink.
Gujarat is also not immune to bootlegging. According to a TOI report, on an average, liquor worth nearly Rs 34 lakh was seized in the state every day in 2019-2020.
Back to the bottle
In Kerala, the sale of liquor in over 700 bars was banned in 2014 by the United Democratic Front government that was in power. It was part of the government's larger plan to make the state liquor-free by 2023. The decision was later reversed by the Left Democratic Front government in 2017.
The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government argued that the state was suffering heavy financial losses due to prohibition. Tourism, which is one of the main revenue generators, was also on the decline due to the liquor ban.
Liquor contributes to around 15% of Kerala's revenue, according to a Crisil report published in May, 2020.
And now the hangover
Though alcohol sales add to government revenues there is a flip side too. And that is not always apparent.
A survey by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi shows that whereas, 15% of Indians drink alcohol about 5% are affected by alcohol-use disorders. So while a much smaller proportion of Indian consume alcohol (15% against 50% globally), a substantial number of people in India are affected by alcohol-use disorders. "More than 200 diseases and health conditions have harmful alcohol consumption as one of the contributing causes. In fact, in one of our papers, we have estimated that alcohol-related health conditions could cost India about 1.5% of the GDP by the year 2050,” says Dr Atul Ambekar, professor at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, AIIMS, Delhi.
Alcohol kills 2.6 lakh Indians every year either by causing liver cirrhosis, cancer or leading to road accidents caused by drunk driving, according to statistics from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global status report of 2018.
According to Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) data for 2019 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 12,256 road accidents took place in the country due to drunk driving.
Exports
In 2018
From: Oct 10, 2019: The Times of India
See graphic:
India’s Alcohol Exports, presumably as in 2018
Imports
Scotch whiskey
2022
Agencies , Feb 13, 2023: The Times of India
LONDON: India has overtaken France to become the UK's largest market of Scotch whisky in terms of volume with a 60% hike in imports in 2022 over the previous year, according to figures from Scotland's leading industry body.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said that India imported 219 million 70cl bottles of Scotch compared to France's 205 million last year representing growth of the Indian Scotch market of more than 200% in the past decade.
In terms of value, the US continued to hold on to its topmost position as the largest market at 1.1 billion pounds. The total export value of Scotch whisky - one of the UK's biggest exporters - was up 37% by value to 6.2 billion pounds.
As one of the key sectors of focus for the UK in the free trade agreement (FTA) talks with India, now in their seventh round of negotiations, SWA pointed out that the hike in volume still makes up only a fraction of the Indian whisky market due to high tariffs.
"Despite double-digit growth, Scotch whisky still just comprises 2% of the Indian whisky market," the association said.
"SWA analysis shows that a UK-India FTA deal which eases the 150% tariff burden on Scotch whisky in India could boost market access for Scotland's whisky companies, allowing for an additional 1-billion pound of growth over five years," it noted.
The value of the Indian market for Scotch exports comes in at fifth worth 282 million pounds, up 93% in 2021 and behind France, Singapore and Taiwan. The 2022 trend also saw the Asia-Pacific region overtake the EU as the industry's largest regional market, with double-digit post-pandemic growth also seen in Taiwan, Singapore and China besides India. "In a year of economic headwinds and supply chain disruption, the industry continued to be an anchor of growth," said SWA chief Mark Kent.
2023
January 8, 2024: The Times of India
From: January 8, 2024: The Times of India
New Delhi : Move over Glenlivet, Macallan, Lagavulin and Talisker — it’s now time for homegrown single malts, whose sales have for the first time overtaken those produced by the global giants.
Early estimates prepared by industry body Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) show that Indian single malts have cornered a share of around 53% of total sales in 2023. Of the total sales of around 6,75,000 cases (of nine litres each) of single malts in India last year, around 3,45,000 cases were retailed by Indian-origin makers, while the remaining 3,30,000 were by Scottish and others.
“In our estimate, the local brands grew by around 23% in 2023, while the imported ones grew at a more conservative 11%. This is a milestone,” Vinod Giri, director-general of CIABC, told TOI.
The numbers are seen as a milestone for homegrown players. “It’s not everyday that such a feat is achieved. From being mocked around till just adecade-and-a-half back, Indian whisky makers have co- me a long way as they are now second to none in terms of quality and refinement,” says Thrivikram Nikam, joint MD of Amrut Distilleries.
The craze for ‘Made in India’ brands has prompted Diageo and Pernod Ricard, which source their single malts mainly from Scotland, to join the party launching local brands. Diageo had introduced the Godawan in 2022, while Pernod recently launched its first Indian single malt Longitude 77.
“India is a fast-growing market and very diverse, and the younger audience is experimenting and gravitating towards niche products. Consumers want newer stuff, and there is lot of value in newness,” says Kartik Mohindra, chief marketing officer at Pernod India.
Paul P John, chairman of John Distilleries that makes its single malts in Goa, says the foreign brands are “panicking now” as Indian companies grow bigger. “They were caught napping and are now trying to catch up. Unfortunately, they are taking short cuts, and are producing stuff here that they don’t understand. India has arrived.”
Indian single malt makers dismiss the “arrogance of Scotch puritans” who swear by ‘Scottish weather, Scottish water, and Scottish barley’ to root for the “irreplaceable quality” of the European brands. Prem Diwan, chairman and MD of Devans Modern Breweries, which distils its whiskies in Jammu, says, “The quality of Indian single malts is absolutely fantastic, which is one of the main reasons fuelling their demand. While Scottish makers are very traditional in their processes, Indian makers love to experiment.
Pernod’s Mohindra says there is enough demand for all the players to keep growing.
Malpractices of the industry
Cartelisation: 2021
Sep 25, 2021: The Times of India
Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties totalling over Rs 873 crore on United Breweries (UB), Carlsberg India, All India Brewers’ Association (AIBA) and 11 individuals for cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer.
In its 231-page order, which comes nearly four years after ordering a detailed probe, CCI has also directed the companies, association and individuals to “cease and desist” from anti-competitive practices in the future.
The final order has been passed against UB, SABMiller India, now renamed as Anheuser Busch InBev India (AB InBev), and Carlsberg India, among other entities. The regulator did not impose any fine on Ab InBev, while lesser penalties have been slapped on others. UBL and Carlsberg India, which are major players in the beer market, said they were reviewing the order.
An official release said the companies and other entities have been found to be “indulging in cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer in various states and UTs in India, including through the platform of AIBA”. As AIBA was found to be actively involved in facilitating such cartelisation, CCI has also held it to be contravening the competition law. The fines on UBL and Carlsberg India are nearly Rs 752 crore and Rs 121 crore, respectively. A fine of over Rs 6.2 lakh has been imposed on AIBA and various individuals have also been fined by the regulator.
As per the release, October 10, 2018, was the date on which the director general (DG) conducted search and seizure operations at the premises of the beer companies. Based on evidences of regular communications between the parties collected by the DG during search and seizure, and disclosures made in the lesser penalty applications, CCI found that the three companies engaged in price coordination, which is in violation of competition norms, the release said. PTI
Sales
India
2016> 19
Avik Das, January 25, 2020: The Times of India
From: Avik Das, January 25, 2020: The Times of India
BENGALURU: Volume growth in India’s spirits industry was just 3% last year, compared to 10% in the year before, impacted negatively by the national elections and sagging consumer demand.
Data sourced from the industry show that domestic brands — or Indianmade foreign liquor (IMFL), which make up the bulk of the sales — reported a volume of 368 million cases (of 9 litres each) for the calendar year, up marginally from 358 million cases in 2018.
Whiskey, brandy and rum, the top three segments, grew at 2.6%, 2.5% and 2.4% respectively. December provided some impetus to the sales as people consumed more due to the winter. “Like all other sectors, the economic slowdown has impacted this as well,” said Allied Blenders Distillers (ABD) executive vice-chairman and CEO Deepak Roy.
India remains a whiskey drinking country and consumers prefer drinks made here because of relatively low price tags. Companies, however, are slowly selling more premium drinks aided by a new class of drinkers with more disposable income. Imported spirits account for 2% of the overall consumption.
Drinks makers warned early last year that the national elections in May would impact sales due to an increase in number of dry days and customs officials opting for election duties. The brakes on growth come on the heels of a relatively good 2018.
The year before that was disastrous — pummeled by demonetisation and the ban on sale of liquor around highways ordered by the Supreme Court. “India is a volatile environment. We used to say it’s two steps forward and one step back,” Carlsberg CEO Cees ‘t Hart said in November.
“In addition to the difficult economic environment, the cost of extra neutral alcohol (ENA) has shot up by almost 60% in the last 18 months, leading to under supply in the popular and lower segments,” he added. ENA is the primary raw material for alcoholic beverages.
Delhi
2019- 22
Bottles sold at corporate vends in December 2022;
Revenue earned in last four months of 2022
From: Atul Mathur, January 3, 2023: The Times of India
See graphic:
Monthly average sales per day 2019-22;
Bottles sold at corporate vends in December 2022;
Revenue earned in last four months of 2022
The spirits market in India
2019 – 22: product-wise
Sidhartha, July 24, 2023: The Times of India
From: Sidhartha, July 24, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi : Despite the rise of wine and gin consumption in recent years, the liquor market in India is dominated by whiskey — and that too by the under Rs 750 a bottle segment.
Latest data available with global agency IWSR shows that nearly two-thirds of the spirits sales in India is accounted for by whiskey. Within that, 85% of the market is controlled by 10 homegrown brands at the lower end of the price spectrum. The share of imported whiskey is estimated at 3.3% of the pie and is projected to rise to 3.7% of the whiskey market in 2027. The numbers suggest that even with a projected 3.8% growth over the next five years, Indian-made whiskey will control over 96% of the market.
The latest numbers indicate that the business is back on track, having overcome the Covid-19 shock, with Vodka making a strong comeback with a 34% jump in sales, driven by flavours (see graphic).
India is the world’s fifth largest market for alcoholic beverages with overall size pegged at around $53 billion, and the consumption at home is expected to drive volumes over the next five years. Ready-to-drink beverages have emerged as the fastest growing segment, clocking near 40% surge last year, and expected to expand at double-digit rates even over the next five years. Wine — where nearly a fifth is made up through imports — will be the next fastest (6.6% projection), followed by spirits (3.7%) and beer (2.7%), according to IWSR.
While there are no estimates available, imported wine from countries such as Australia and the European Union may have a bigger share of the pie due to the free trade agreements. In whiskey — where the UK is seeking tariff cuts — the domestic industry will be the key driver. This is despite some of the imported whiskeys seeing a rapid rise, although it has come over a small base.
“There is a growing trend of new whiskeys being explored by Indian consumers. While scotch leads, the new players on the table are Irish, US, Japanese and Canadian whiskies. And of course, Indian Single Malts too,” said Nita Kapoor, CEO, International Spirits & Wines Association of India.
Whiskey 2020 – 22
Sidhartha, August 22, 2023: The Times of India
From: Sidhartha, August 22, 2023: The Times of India
New Delhi : The sales of Indian single malts have caught up with their rivals from Scotland due to growing appetite of consumers to take homegrown brands, which do not come cheap.
In 2022, the sales of Indian malts shot up 2.4 times to 2,81,000 cases, while Scotch (single malt) sales rose 35% to 2,96,000 cases, according to industry data accessed by TOI. A year ago, Indian brands accounted for around a third of the market, compared with 15% five years before that, TOIhad reported in March 2022.
Two Amrut offerings are on top of the heap, and bigger than Glenlivet, followed by Paul John (see graphic). Singleton sales have shot up in recent years and were estimated at 22,000 cases in 2022, while 10-year Talisker sold around 14,000 cases. Among the Indian malts, Solan Gold sold 20,000 cases, while Rampur was at around 10,000 cases. “Indian players are now making exceptionally good single malt whiskies, which are comparable to all others. Within Indian itself, we are able to produce good stan dards and are reasonably priced. We are trying to cater to demand globally. Things might change (for us) going forward due to free trade agreements,” said Rakshit Neelkant, managing director of Amrut.
“As of now there are about eight-nine distilleries with their own single malt whisky brands. This number is growing which brings one to the matter of ensuring quality and consistency, a must for a global brand. CIABC is working with the domestic industry and government agencies to evolve product and process stan dards that ensure product quality uniformly and consistently for Indian malt whiskies,” said Vinod Giri, director general of lobby group Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC).
With income levels on the rise, Indians are now willing to spend more on alcohol, which has resulted in the demand for malt whiskies rising, although they still make up a very small share of the pie. The overall whisky market in India is pegged at 242 million cases, which is around two-thirds of the overall spirits market.
Whisky
The pricing of whisky
2019 – 22
From: Sidhartha, July 31, 2023: The Times of India
The share of Scotch Whisky in the ₹ 750 plus per bottle category, 2019 – 22
See also
Alcohol and the Indian physique
Alcohol, India: consumption, business
