Vijayawada: The proposal to increase Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, is going to have an adverse impact on the Foreign Liquor (FL) brands market in the state. In fact, the meagre presence of FL brands in the Capital city have already hit the star hotels business badly, and the present move of the Prohibition and Excise department to further decrease the business up to 40 per cent according to a leading hotelier. The department is not looking at the increasing traffic of foreign delegates to the city and their requirements, a liquor market analyst said.
Despite the possibility of taking steps to increase the excise revenues legally, the AP Beverages Corporation Limited (APBCL) has been following the conventional way, says liquor lobby. The suppliers of IMFL and FL to the APBCL have been facing a tough time in AP, as there is no increase in the prices for the last three years. Following the absence of the tender process, they have been finding it hard to pay the huge fee and taxes to the government. They have been asking to reduce the security deposit to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 5 lakh for FL brands, which was increased after the reorganisation of the state. If the security deposit is reduced, there is a possibility of more number of FL brands to be supplied to APBCL, according to the traders. AP government is not responding to the requests of the liquor supplier companies, over the price increase. The liquor traders are also urging the government to take a fast decision over opening elite outlets on the lines of Hyderabad, in the cities of Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijaya-wada, Nellore, Tirupati and Guntur.
In fact, the Karnataka government used to take a decision within a day, over the requests of the liquor companies. Keeping in view the increasing rate of consumption of Foreign Liquor (FL) in the Capital region, on par with Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), the liquor traders are urging the government to look into the aspect of price increase for their products.
For FL brands, there is a typical situation in both the Telugu states, especially in Andhra Pradesh. “There is a lot of variation in the dollar to INR and Pound to INR exchange rates in the last three years. Still, the government is insisting on us supplying the FL brands at the same old prices,” a trader explained and suggested to the government to increase the prices for FL brands.
This measure will certainly increase the inflow of all varieties of FL brands to the state, he observed and added that the government should consider the request of the traders to increase the prices, at least on production a proof. Another important factor is that AP doesn’t have more number of lucrative FL brands, following the stringent rules of the government. “The capital is buzzing now. People from across the globe are visiting the Capital and many of them were disappointed when they came to know that famous FL brands were not available here in AP,” a state hotelier stated.
