Kolkata: Ahead of puja, tipplers have something to cheer: prices of most bottled-in-origin (BIO) Scotch will come down by 7%-10% in the state following UK FTA. This will include brands like Chivas, Black Label, Double Black, Glen family, and Talisker, along with others, which are mostly brands of two global giants, Diageo and Pernod Ricard.Sources in the liquor industry pointed out that prices of some of the brands have already been slashed while the rest will follow in the next few days. Liquor industry experts feel that this may result in a major boost in high-end liquor sales. According to the new pricing, some of the entry-level BIO brands would come down to below Rs 2,000 and will compete directly with high-end IMFL. Even brands like Chivas and Black Label would be at the sub-Rs 3,000 level for some categories. Single-malt prices, too, would go down to the sub-Rs 4,000 level for some categories.Incidentally, BIO is the category where the Scotch is bottled in Scotland. There is also a category called overseas spirits bottled in India (OSBI), where the spirits are imported in casks from Scotland and blended here. According to experts, BIO constitutes around 1.5% to 2% of the liquor market in the state, volume-wise, while value-wise, it would be 4%-5%. The total market for liquor (volume-wise) is 1.3 crore cases (750 ml x 12) without beer and country spirits.According to experts, the liquor industry in the state is worth Rs 38,000 crore. Beer and CS taken together is Rs 10,000 crore-11,000 crore and the rest is IMFL and BIO. The market for BIO, according to estimates, is now close to Rs 1,500 crore in Bengal.“But following the price slash, we are expecting good growth in this segment, both at off shops and in bars,” a liquor retailer said.In the financial year 2022-23, Bengal recorded Rs 22,000 crore in liquor sales while it was Rs 18,000 crore in the 2021-2022 fiscal. Beer sales rose to the Rs 4,000 crore mark in Bengal in the 2022-2023 fiscal, and it was between Rs 1,700 crore and Rs 1,800 crore in the 2021-2022 fiscal. The excise revenue of the state went up from Rs 3,587 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 16,000 crore in 2022-23. This fiscal, the state govt has set a target of around Rs 25,000 crore.
