The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Major sops to wine industry in State

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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Major sops to wine industry in State

Special Correspondent

Sale of wine in malls, shops to be permitted

BANGALORE: To boost production and consumption of wine in the State, the Bharatiya Janata Party Government led by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has offered several relaxations to the wine industry and introduced major changes in the Excise Rules to permit sale of wine in malls and shops, including grocery stores.

The State, which ranks second after Maharashtra in the production of wine, manufactures eight lakh litres of wine (including fortified) annually and this is expected to substantially increase to 20 lakh litres soon. An ambitious plan has been prepared to increase the number of growers cultivating wine varieties of grapes from 60 to 4,500 and the area under grape from 600 acres to 25,000 acres of land over a five-year period. In terms of consumption, Bangalore city stood third in the country.

Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner L. Shanthakumari, who is chairperson of the Wine Board, told presspersons here on Friday that grapes were grown on 9,700 hectares of land and the estimated production was 1.67 lakh tonnes. The State would soon have eight new wineries in the private sector by the end of the year. The cost for establishing a winery was about Rs. 6 crore (five lakh litre capacity). Around 20 applications were pending before the authorities.

Policy changes

The major changes in the Excise Rules include slashing of annual winery license fee from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5,000; bottling licence fee from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 1,000; and granting permission to open wine tavern to sell all varieties of wine separately.

Ms. Shanthakumari said that the annual licence fee for opening of wine taverns had been fixed at Rs. 1,000 while a temporary licence fee of Rs. 1,000 a day would be charged to serve wine in certain public places. Permission would be given for consumers to stock wine up to nine litres. Labelled approval and renewal licence fee had been fixed at Rs. 1,000 a year, she said.

Mr. Nanjundaiah said about 100 proposals to open wine taverns would be cleared soon. The State was likely to export about 50 lakh litres of wine in a few years. The rate of consumption of wine in the country was growing at 25 to 35 per cent per a year, he added.

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