Employees of United Breweries, Empee Distilleries and Enrica Distilleries are worried about their future as the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) has stopped placing orders with these units for the past five months.
At Enrica, a section of employees has not received salaries for three months now. “Those working on the manufacturing side have not got salaries. A few staff members were given settlements and asked to leave,” said Selvam (name changed), an employee at Enrica.
A senior official at Enrica, said, “We have not got orders for the last five months and there is no activity here.” He refused to provide any details.
Employees of United Breweries and Empee Distilleries said that the regular staff were getting their salaries but some daily wage workers had not been paid.
Employees of all the three units indicated that the issue was not with their owners, but with TASMAC.
A senior official from one of the breweries said, “Only if TASMAC gives us the letter of intent to manufacture can we make liquor. From August, there has been no activity at our plant. No proper reason has been cited,” he said. TASMAC procures Indian Made Foreign Spirits (IMFS), beer and wine from 11 IMFS manufacturing units, seven beer making facilities and one winery in the State.
The Managing Director of TASMAC could not be reached for his comments. Another senior official at TASMAC indicated that with the current political changes in Tamil Nadu, the fate of these units might also change. “We need to wait and see,” he said.
No orders since January
According to statistics from analysts who track the liquor market in Tamil Nadu, from April to August 2016, of the 1.10 crore liquor cases manufactured in the State, 15% of the orders were given to United Breweries and 12% to Empee Distilleries. From August 2016 to January 2017, no orders were given to these two firms and instead, the market share of the other breweries in the State reportedly went up.
Enrica Distilleries (previously called Balaji Distilleries) got orders to the tune of 28 lakh cases for the period 2016-17 (up to August). “In 2015-2016, of the 5.35 crore cases of IMFL, 54 lakh cases were manufactured at Enrica. Post August 2016, the machines have halted here,” said another employee at this distillery. “If we get a clear idea of what is happening, we can decide whether to wait for a few days or look for alternate jobs,” he added.
Halting operations at these three units had wiped out certain popular brands from the market.
A Tasmac union member said that United Breweries had a 30 per cent market share in Tamil Nadu. “Balaji Distilleries also had a 30 per cent market share here,” he said. He further added that some years ago, the number of breweries and distilleries were fewer and Tasmac had to necessarily procure from them but now, the number had increased and so Tasmac did not have to depend on a specific unit.
According to a government handbook, as on June 30, 2016, Tasmac has 6,200 retail vending shops with 3,139 of them having an attached bar.
