India’s biggest beer-consuming state is rationing supplies of Kingfisher, one of the country’s most popular brands, after Heineken-controlled United Breweries last week suspended its sales in a dispute over prices.<\/p>\n
States in India, the world’s eighth-biggest alcohol market by volume, individually regulate pricing of alcohol products, which are major contributors to their tax revenue.<\/p>\n
Alcohol is bought by the state government and then supplied to shops in Telangana, where officials are rationing supplies to deter hoarding and tackle shortages, three retailers said.<\/p>\n
“Today we got a notification from our depot that there is no Kingfisher beer stock anymore,” Madhusudhan Rao, a liquor store owner in Hyderabad city, told Reuters on Monday.<\/p>\n
United Breweries, which brews the popular Kingfisher brand, last week cited delayed payments and a lack of government approval for higher prices since 2019\/20, which had damaged its finances, for halting sales to Telangana.<\/p>\n
The move is the latest sign of stress in India’s $45 billion alcohol market, with companies including Diageo, Pernod Ricard, AB InBev and Carlsberg together demanding some $466 million in unpaid dues.<\/p>\n
They are also battling regulatory challenges including antitrust investigations.<\/p>\n
Telangana state said last week that United Breweries had suspended supplies as a “tactic” to press for price increases and a panel was deciding on such requests.<\/p>\n
Officials in Telangana, where some depots are running out of beer, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n
Another liquor store owner in Hyderabad, Purushottam, said some outlets had 10 days of Kingfisher beer stock remaining, while others only enough for two days.<\/p>\n
Outlets and depots in Telangana will only have stock of United Breweries products for around two weeks, an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter said.<\/p>\n
United Breweries, the country’s biggest beer company, accounts for 70% of the state’s beer market, where 60 million 12-bottle cases are sold each year.<\/p>\n
The Brewers Association of India said that the beer prices companies charge in Telangana are around 300 rupees per case, whereas in Maharashtra they get around 500 rupees a case.<\/p>\n
It said that states taxes and retailer margins on top of these lead to a consumer price which is five to six times higher in most Indian states.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n
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