Faced with severe shortage of liquor, which is considered the major source of revenue, the State government is contemplating promoting breweries and distilleries.
SNJ Distillers Private Limited, which has a presence in Tamil Nadu, has evinced interest in setting up a unit in Chittoor. The SNJ group is manufacturing beer, brandy, whisky, rum and other brands.
Speaking to The Hindu , Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra said that there was a huge gap between demand and supply of liquor. Exports from Telangana State have also come down. The government was importing liquor from Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states. Setting up of new breweries and distilleries would ease the acute shortage.
The demand grows at an average of 10 per cent per annum. It would take two to three years for the new factories to be fully functional, he said.
If the government plans were fruitful, a new brewery would come up at Chittoor taking the number of breweries in the State to three. Two breweries are located at Ranasthalam in Srikakulam district and Ramachandrapuram in East Godavari district. The government had also received eight applications seeking permission to set up distilleries. Already there are 14 distilleries in the State.
There is a demand for 24 lakh cases (each case contains 9 litre) of liquor per month, while supply is around 19 lakh cases. Likewise, 8 lakh cases of beer are required per month. The government is importing about 6 lakh cases.
“Ground water is sufficiently available in Chittoor district. It should not be a problem for setting up a brewery,” said an official anonymously.
The production capacity of distilleries is less and consumption of liquor is more. But in Telangana, it is the other way around. After the state bifurcation, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments have imposed export and import taxes.
On average, if one case of liquor was supplied to Andhra Pradesh from Telangana, the exporters would have to pay Rs. 15 export tax to the Telangana government and Rs. 15 towards import tax to Andhra Pradesh government. Because of this, the distilleries stopped production and supply to Andhra Pradesh, sources say.
There are 4,380 liquor shops and 766 bars in the State selling various brands of beer, and liquor. About 35 lakh to 40 lakh cases of liquor is being sold through these outlets. The government received Rs. 4,404 crore through excise department last year.
