Do you love to have a good glass of wine, but find it difficult to go to a wine shop and buy it? Good news for all you fellas in Maharashtra!
The Maharashtra Government cabinet has now allowed supermarkets and walk-in stores to sell wine. So cheers to finding the bottle of wine while grocery shopping! You will only need a liquor permit to purchase the alcohol, as is the same with alcohol home delivery in the state.
A "shelf-in-shop" method will be adopted in supermarkets and walk-in-stores which have an area of 100 sq mt or more and are registered under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act.
Most wines have a low content of pure spirits, as compared to other liquors. Also, a large number of restaurants and bakeries use wine for food making.
What is the Government trying to achieve with this decision?
🍷Maharashtra is the largest wine producer with 65% of the Rs 1,000 crore total turnover in India. The state has around 45 operational wineries. Most wineries are located in Nashik, which produces around 80 per cent of India’s wine, followed by Sangli, Pune, Solapur, Buldana and Ahmednagar.
🍷Wine is produced in the state from fruits, flowers and honey. Wineries will now be able to market their wines by selling them directly in supermarkets or walk-in stores in a shelf-in-shop manner. The decision is expected to benefit small wineries and alternatively, farmers in the state.
🍷Some supermarkets do stock wine and beer, but they need a beer shoppe license, which often translates into high fees. This new policy will allow shopkeepers to sell wine with a significantly lower fee.
🍷The current sale of 70 lakh litres per year in the state is expected to go up to 1 crore litres under the new liberalised policy for retail sales.
🍷This will earn only Rs 5 crore in revenue for the state but will help the excise administration in the know of the number of wine bottles sold in the market.
🍷However, these supermarkets and walk-in shops will be situated away from religious and educational institutions, as per the government policy.
What will be the charges to the shop keepers?
The government will charge per bulk litre a nominal excise duty of Rs 10 on all types of wine bottles. The government has fixed an annual licence fee of Rs 5,000 for the sample E-4 license. However, such licences will not be issued in districts where the sale of liquor is banned.
Why BJP is against this move by the MVA govt?
As per reports, The BJP has slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s decision to allow the sale of wine in supermarkets, saying that the government is dedicated to drunkards. Former CM Devendra Fadnavis declared that his party would not tolerate making Maharashtra a ‘madya rashtra’ (wine state).
Following the footsteps of Maharashtra, the Karnataka government is also likely to approve the sale of wine in supermarkets and walk-in stores. Karnataka state government will send a team to Maharashtra to study the model and will decide the implementation of the same thereof.
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