CHENNAI: After six months, tipplers in Tamil Nadu will now get to taste Kingfisher and other liquor brands which were off Tasmac shelves these past months. A senior official at Tasmac confirmed the news. A union member said it is expected that by the end of this week, the Kingfisher brand and other products will once again be made available in the Tamil Nadu market. “The three units that downed shutters for last six months have finally received orders to resume operations from Tasmac on Monday,” he added.
Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited, popular by its acronym Tasmac, had stopped placing orders with United Breweries, Empee Breweries and Enrica Distilleries (previously called Balaji Distilleries) from mid September without citing proper reasons. This move by the cash cow of the state had wiped out several brands from the shelves.
A sales manager of a Tasmac outlet at Triplicane said, “For the last few months consumers had no other choice but to opt for brands that were available at the Tasmac outlets across the state. March, April and May is the season where beer consumption is high and Kingfisher products are the most sought by tipplers,” he said. During 2015-16 March 24.72 lakh cases of beer was sold in the state as against 20.85 lakh cases of beer in March 2014-15. In April 2016-17, 29.65 lakh cases of beer was sold in Tamil Nadu when compared to 21.71 lakh cases in 2015-16. A liquor analyst said that considering the mercury levels which is set to touch its peak this summer, beer consumption will go up by at least 20-25 per cent when compared to previous years.
R. Kirlosh Kumar, Managing Director, Tasmac, could not be reached for comments. Another senior Tasmac official confirmed the news and said the order letters were given to the three units on Monday. Tasmac procures Indian Made Foreign Spirits, Beer and Wine from 11 IMFS manufacturing units, 7 Beer making plants and 1 winery functioning across the state. Currently, Tasmac has 5,700 retail vending shops depending on these breweries and distilleries.
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