Government urged to give relief to distilleries

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Members of Kerala Bottlers Federation (KBF) and Association of Distillers, Brewers & Vintners of India (ADBVI) met Excise Minister K Babu on Monday and requested him to solve the longstanding issue of price increase faced by the distilleries in Kerala.The associations urged the government to provide relief to the industry to survive in the state. The matter was brought to the notice of managing director and and chairman of Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco).Vijayakumar, president, KBF, said: “We are paying a very high turnover tax of 10 per cent and highest sales tax of 100 per cent and cess on ST  six per cent, which is not prevalant in any other state of India. Additionally the cost of raw materials, packing materials, labour cost and manufacturing cost have all been going up substantially every year, but Bevco has not been giving us the required purchase price increase every year.”Sushil Haskar, president, ADBVI, said that cost of raw material, Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), has gone up due to its shortage in the country and even the cost of packaging materials have also increased. Moreover, we have been supplying liquor to Bevco at a fixed price for the past five years and it has not considered any price increase for the suppliers during this period, he said.