Taxes force liquor buyers change brand in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Tipplers generally stick to a brand of liquor or beer that suits their taste over the years. However, in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh the regular drinking population is forced to switch and try out brands other than their favourite ones owing to export and taxation issues. To avoid losses due to inter-state transport taxes, and other commercial sales tax duties, the distilleries and breweries in both states have stopped exports.

This, wine shop owners claim, has prevented their regular clientele from sticking to a particular liquor or beer brand. “Liquor brands like Bagpiper produced in Nellore, Old Monk in Chittoor, Haywards Whisky, Knockout and other brands from distilleries and breweries are reaching here since more than a month. Customers, generally stick to a particular brand.

Whenever a particular brand is not available we give an alternative to keep the customer happy, but when the preferred brands are not available, customers cut down on buying,” said D. Venkateswar Rao, president of Twin Cities Wine Dealers Association. Even the liquor brands imported from other states- under the label Seagram, Royal Stag have run out of stock in both the states, due to the new hologram system introduced in the excise policy.

“Due to the new hologram system, each bottle of liquor is supposed to have two hologram stickers one of Telangana state and the other of Andhra Pradesh. This move of the government, besides putting an additional financial burden on us, is also delaying supply by almost 10 days. Due to lack of sufficient labour at the depot and improper management, the labourers are demanding extra money to get our stock into circulation,” said Kameshwar Rao, the general secretary of the Association of Liquor and Beer Suppliers.

Both the state governments in their new excise policy said that they would mandate the track and trace system of liquor supplies and circulation by introducing 2 D bars Coding Hologram. However, an estimated additional Rs 70 lakh has been pushed on to the distillery companies which are already are protesting against the additional excises duties post-bifurcation.

Umesh Natarajan, a member of the Association of Liquor and Beer Suppliers said, “At a time when we are already mandated to pay the inter-state taxes and duties between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, for the Hologram system we are forced to pay an additional Rs 10 per case for the 2D Hologram.

When it is supplied to Andhra Pradesh, the bottles need to have another hologram of the particular state and as a result a total Rs 20 has to be paid. Further, unless we do not pay a bribe of Rs 6-7 to labourers for every case of liquor at the sales depot level, our products are not entered in the supply list, and we end up as losers.”