Mumbai: In order to increase the consumption of wine being produced on a large scale by the grape grower in Maharashtra, the state government has made a special policy. The notification regarding this is expected to be issued by the month of August. It has been said in the proposal that the excise duty which is not being levied on liquor in Maharashtra so far, should be levied at the rate of 10 percent. Further, it is proposed that so far only wine retail outlets which were opened in wineries can now be opened independently. If this policy is implemented, it will be possible to sell wine in grocery stores as well as supermarkets.
It is noteworthy that in the year 2005, the then Union Agriculture Minister President Sharad Pawar had expressed displeasure over the classification of wine as liquor. Along with this, opinion was also expressed in favor of providing liquor in grocery stores. Though excise duty has not been imposed on liquor so far as it is considered as alcohol, but its consumption is not satisfactory to the industry. If we look at the figures for 2020-21, the sale of foreign liquor produced in the country stood at 200 million liters. Country liquor 32 crore liters, beer 300 million liters and wine only 7 lakh liters were sold.
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Reasons for low sales
There are many reasons why wine sales are down. The classification of wine as a wine became a cause. People prefer hard liquor instead of wine. Also, there is currently no retail sale of wine anywhere other than the winery. An official said that wine shops can be opened only if licenses are given to other retailers.