Brewers’ body asks Karnataka govt to withdraw draft notifications, fear 10-20% price hike
Bengaluru: The Brewers Association of India (BAI) has urged the Karnataka government to withdraw its proposed amendments to beer regulations and tax increases, stating that these changes would negatively impact both the industry and the government.
In a press release, the BAI raised several objections to the proposed changes, highlighting that the draft introduces a new definition of beer that limits the addition of sugar to 25 percent and requires beer products to clearly label the content of malt and sugar.
"The draft notification also proposes to increase the excise duty on strong beer by 100 percent to Rs 20 per bulk litre, increasing the minimum billing price for beer in the state to Rs 300 per case and increases additional excise duty to 195 percent of the billing price or Rs 130 per bulk litre whichever is higher," the release read.
"The increase proposed in the draft notification would increase the prices by 10-20 percent in mainstream and premium segments. At the same time, it would also make beer unaffordable to the masses with the proposed 35 percent increase in taxes in this segment," said BAI, whose members account for 85 percent of the beer sold in India.
Vinod Giri, director general of the BAI, emphasised that beer contains no sugar and that the existing definition established by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is already comprehensive and followed by all states. He questioned the necessity for Karnataka to impose its own definition.
Giri also noted that the proposed tax increases would affect consumers significantly, noting that the price of strong beer, which makes up 90 percent of beer sold in Karnataka, will increase by Rs 10-15 per bottle, making it one of the most expensive in the country. This change would increase the minimum price of beer from Rs 95 to Rs 140 per bottle.
"Due to the impact on MRP, we estimate the tax revenues from the beer category may actually fall to the tune of Rs 400 crore revenue from this proposal," said BAI.
Highlighting that Karnataka is the third largest beer market in India, the BAI stated that they are concerned that some proposed changes could hinder the growth of the industry, diminish the state's investment appeal, or drive future investments elsewhere.
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Karnataka govt gives nod to give internal reservation among SCs
Bengaluru, Oct 28: The Karnataka cabinet on Monday gave its consent for providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes (SC) and decided to constitute a commission that will be tasked with collecting empirical data.
The commission will be constituted under a retired High Court judge, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
"Regarding providing internal reservation among SC there were demands, discussions and thinking, in Karnataka. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent verdict regarding internal reservation among SCs, the cabinet today gave its approval to provide internal reservation among SCs," Patil said.
"....after obtaining the data, it has been decided to decide on the next course of action. The government will ask the committee to submit the report in three months," he said.
Patil said the cabinet also decided to postpone all upcoming recruitments for at least three months until the commission submits its report.
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"From today if any recruitment is to be notified, that process will not take place, it will only start after the commission submits its report," he said.
Just ahead of the assembly polls, the previous BJP government's cabinet had taken a decision on internal reservation, by recommending to the central government a six per cent internal quota for SC (Left), 5.5 per cent for SC (Right), 4.5 per cent for "touchables" (Banjara, Bhovi, Korcha, Kuruma etc) and one per cent for others.
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on August 1 held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.
A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, by a majority of 6:1, set aside the apex court's five-judge bench verdict of 2004 in the EV Chinnaiah vs State of Andhra Pradesh case which had held that no sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) can be allowed as they are a homogeneous class in themselves.
