Consumption of liquor in Karnataka grown by 77% in 11 yrs

The Maharashtra government is planning to introduce a policy that will allow the online sale and home delivery of liquor in the state. Maharashtra is likely to be the first Indian state to come up with such kind of policy in the country.

Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Minister of State for Excise, said, "The main objective is to reduce growing cases of drunken driving due to which there have been many accidents and resulted in great loss of lives. The alcohol would be delivered home through platforms similar to national and international e-commerce websites. Just like citizens are getting groceries and vegetables at home."

Aadhar card will be mandatory for the purchase of beer online. The sellers would be directed to take complete details of customers, which would include Aadhaar numbers, through which their identity can be verified.

"The bottles of booze will be tracked using geo-tagging from their manufacture to sale. The tagging would be done on the cap of the bottle. We can track the bottle all the way from the manufacturer to the consumer. It would help curb the sale of spurious liquor and also smuggling," Bawankule further stated.

While ruling in favour of Diageo and Pernod Ricard, Chhattisgarh High Court has directed the state government to frame a new liquor procurement policy within a month.

The Chhattisgarh government had earlier ordered that liquor sales would only be allowed through government-owned corporations. 

The country's top two distillers had approached the High Court, alleging unfair practices by the government. Diageo and Pernod Ricard said that the government's wholesale and retail units were trying to drive them out of the state by favouring other suppliers and restricting their orders to minimal.

Justice Sanjay K Agarwal, in its order, said, "The choice of the consumers has to prevail. There should be a la carte system and consumer, who is master of his choice, should be allowed to purchase according to his wishes and all the brands should be made available in the shops across the counter."

The court has stated that the new policy should ensure fairness and equality in procurement.

Sequoia Capital-backed premium beer maker Bira 91 is eyeing up to Rs 450 crore sales next fiscal as it expands its footprint in India and overseas.

Bira 91 Founder Ankur Jain said "We are looking at clocking Rs 400-450 crore sales in the next financial year. We plan to enter new cities in India and going deeper in the existing markets. We will also look at entering new overseas markets by early next year. With addition of our third brewery, our production capacity will go up from 3.5 lakh cases a month to 10 lakh cases a month.”

At present, Bira sells in seven cities in India and New York in the US.

It plans to expand operations to 20 cities in India and enter new markets such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia by early next year.

The company's third brewery coming up in Rajasthan will also become operational in the next quarter.

When asked if the company is looking at raising fresh funds in the near future, Jain said, "We have adequate funds to support our expansion plans and we are not seeking fresh investments."

The company so far has raised USD 35 million from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.

Amazon.com Inc. is opening a bar. The web retailer is going to sell beer, wine, sake and cocktails in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district to promote alcoholic products sold on its website in Japan.

While Amazon has opened physical bookstores, bought Whole Foods and is testing a food market without cash registers at its Seattle headquarters, this is the first time the e-commerce giant will operate an actual bar. Its part of a bigger push by Amazon to boost its physical presence to promote the array of merchandise sold on its website, and branch into new markets.

The company said in a statement “Amazon Bar will offer a wide variety of drinks procured from across the globe, and offer exclusive products as well as samples of products not yet on store shelves.”

Instead of a menu, Amazon’s 78-seat bar will feature an ordering system that will suggest drinks, and also hire sommeliers to dispense wine advice. Nikka whisky, Yebisu beer and other drinks will cost 500 to 1,500 yen ($4.43 to $13.30), and some food will be offered. The pop-up bar will be open for evenings beginning Oct. 20.

The new bar is located a stone’s throw from the Emporio Armani store in Ginza, Tokyo’s prestige shopping district where Apple and Louis Vuitton have flagship outlets.

The Bombay high court has directed the state government to reply if liquor outlets challenging their closure notices are on state highways or national highways. The HC also directed it to produce the relevant notification which declares roads as state highways.

A bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and Mahesh Sonak heard petitions by many liquor outlets, including hotels and permit rooms from Thane district, Vasai-Virar, Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Nashik districts, which were directed to shut down. The Supreme Court on December 15, 2016, directed a ban on all liquor vends within 500 meters of national and state highways after March 31, 2017. The petitioners said the apex court’s order was not applicable to them as they are on state roads.

The judges said as facts are not common and the outlets are on different roads, they will take up cases individually. An advocate arguing for a Nashik outlet on Yeola Nandgaon Road No 25 said a government resolution says it was a state road. He also said there was a procedure mandated for declaring a road a highway.

He said, "It cannot be said that any road is a highway."

Justice Sonak said, "We prima facie agree with you that if you are not on a state highway or national highway, the matter is different. If they say you are on a state highway or national highway, they have to produce necessary documents."

The judges clarified that relief granted to three clubs and a retail outlet in Pune a day earlier was because it was in the city. “Here, everything is dependent on whether a state road is state highway or not,’’ said Justice Kemkar. Posting the hearing on Friday, the judges said they will consider granting interim relief to the petitioners.

India's largest brewer, United Breweries has reported a 87 per cent decline in profit for the quarter ended in March 2017 from a year ago on the back of shutdown of Bihar operations, destocking by liquor by retailers due to highway ban anticipation and increase in duty fee.

Kingfisher-maker posted profit of Rs 6.7 crore from Rs 52 crore in the corresponding quarter. Revenue for the same period grew by 2.7 per cent to Rs 2562 crore.

In a BSE filing, the company said, "The Supreme Court order directing all outlets within 500 meters to close from the 1st of April has had a significant impact on the industry in quarter 4. The industry saw a decline of about 13 per cent. We expect the impact of this ban to be most significant in the first two quarters of this fiscal year."

The company said in a separate filing that brewing operations at its manufacturing unit in Bihar have been discontinued due to prohibition of alcohol in the state.

Industry volume growth slipped by 5%, whereas UBL saw a 2.5% decline in volume.

United Breweries, which has 52 per cent market share, recently launched strong beer Kingfisher Storm and has plans to launch about half a dozen international brands to boost the declining market.

The Supreme Court said it is likely to announce the modification order in the second week of July on the plea by hotels and clubs seeking changes in its order banning sale of liquor within 500 meters of national and state highways.

Hoteliers and club owners' filed, review petitions in the top court seeking modifications and exemption to the March 31 order, which has forced several establishments across the country to stop serving alcohol to guests.

The court heard the review petitions from Chennai-based hotels and club associations. States like Arunachal Pradesh had also petitioned the apex court seeking exemptions.

The court had exempted Sikkim and Meghalaya from the ban in view of their topography and terrain. Senior counsel Arvind P Datar is arguing the case for South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA).

In a statement, SIHRA said, "Our request is not to dilute the judgment of the SC banning liquor sale on the highways at all. This application is to draw attention to the plight of 93 hotels in Tamil Nadu which have invested Rs 6,133 crore and employ about 9,450 people directly and 94,500 indirectly to promote tourism…"

It added, "Due to flaws in the system followed by state governments in notifying highways, the SC's judgment to ban liquor has brought down with it certain unintended victims."

Hotel associations from various parts of the country have filed review petitions seeking reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s ban on liquor sales near national and state highways.

The associations, which submitted their petitions, are seeking exemption for hotels and restaurants, which they said were the unintended victims of a December 15 judgment that was thought to be applicable only for liquor vends.

Dilip Datwani, President, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), said, "This is a blanket order and the topography of all the states is different. Some highways are cutting through towns and cities and are not highways anymore and have not been denotified yet."

Parekh & Co, said, "We are asking for a complete review of the order and for hotels to be looked at separately."

Garish Oberoi, Treasurer, HRAWI, said, "In our petition, we are saying that Himachal and Uttarakhand in north India, which have similar terrain issues like Sikkim and Meghalaya, should be exempted from the ban. We are also referring to restaurants and saying that restaurants with all compliances in place and which primarily serve food and are not bars should be exempted. Resident guests in hotels are not driving after drinking and should be able to access bars in hotels."

R Srinivasan, Executive Committee Member, South India Hotels & Restaurants Association, said, "Various state and national highways are not thoroughfares anymore but urban roads between cities and towns. While we respect the judgement, which is aimed at ending drunk driving, we feel hotels and restaurants have been the unintended victims of this ban and should be exempted."

In order to ensure "uninterrupted "supply to liquor outlets across the city, the Delhi excise department (DED) has directed all distributors to maintain one week's stock of all approved brands for sale.

The department has warned of strict action against those not complying with the order.

Besides, all liquor distributors have been asked to submit information about their stock on the first working day of every week so that supply of liquor is not affected in the city.

The move comes after complaints were received that supply of some liquor brands is being affected.

An official said, "All L 1 licensees (wholesale suppliers of liquor) have been directed to maintain at least one week's stock of all the brands approved for sale in Delhi. 

Apart from this, they have also been asked to submit weekly stock position on the first working day of every week to the Assistant Commissioner (excise)."

As per Rule 89 of the Excise Rules (2010), all distributors of liquor will be bound to maintain a stock of liquor as may be laid down from time to time by the Excise Commissioner.

The rule also stated that in case, the licensee fails to maintain the required stock, action under relevant sections of the Delhi Excise Act 2009 shall be taken against them.

Liquor shops in Sector 29 of Gurugram have started serving liquor, after getting clearance from the excise commissioner in Chandigarh.

Around 16 bars and restaurants had shut completely or stopped serving alcohol in Sector 19 after the Supreme Court ordered a ban on sale of liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways.

Ten outlets in Ambience Mall along with The Westin, Crowne Plaza and two restaurants also got the state excise department’s nod to serve liquor, sources said.

According to officials at the excise office in Gurugram, the commissioner’s office in Chandigarh cleared 30 outlets. Deputy commissioner Hardeep Singh-led district-level committee, which includes officials of excise department, PWD, NHAI, DTCP, Gurgaon police and Huda, had given its approval to 38 outlets in Sector 29, Ambience Mall, Crowne Plaza, Rajiv Chowk and Sohna Road at a meeting held on April 21.

A senior excise official said, "The clearance has come from the head office in Chandigarh. We will have some more processes to follow now. But yes, since they have got the approval, these outlets can start serving liquor now."

Sources said the excise department is expected to take a final decision on granting approval to outlets in Cyber Hub within a week.

Inderjit Banga, Co-owner of Prankster at Sector 29, said, "The move will definitely revive the night life in Gurugram. There is immense joy and excitement everywhere, especially among our employees who have got jobs back."

Ashwin Chaudhary, who runs multiple outlets in Cyber Hub and Sector 29, said, "I am extremely happy for my employees who have been working with me for six years. Some of them are away at their villages and will have to be called back."

After Supreme Court's order of banishing liquor from bars, permit rooms, restaurants or liquor shops within 500m of the national and state highways from April 1, left around 50 pubs, restaurants and hotels, located within 500 metres of highways in Delhi dry.

According to government sources, 65 vends will be sealed following the Supreme Court order that no liquor shops, pubs, hotels and bars serving alcohol will be permitted within 500 metres of highways in the country from April 1.

A senior excise department official said several teams have been formed to ensure that outlets - pubs, restaurants and hotels - most of them on NH-8, stop serving liquor. Some of the major restaurants and hotels located in Aerocity near the IGI Airport will be affected by the ruling.

Officials said strict action will be taken against violators.

In its order on December 15 last year, the Supreme Court had noted, "The expressways witnessed 4,208 accident cases, 4,229 injured and 1,802 deaths. Figures are also available of the distribution of road accidents by causes during 2014. 1.38 lakh persons were injured in road accidents involving dangerous or careless driving and 42,127 deaths occurred. Injuries caused in accidents due to over-speeding stood at 1.81 lakh while there were 48,654 deaths. 7,307 accident cases involving driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol were registered resulting in 7,398 injuries and 2,591 deaths."

After Supreme Court's order of banishing liquor from bars, permit rooms, restaurants or liquor shops within 500m of the national and state highways from April 1, this weekend is going to be dry for most of Mumbai's weekend goers.

In all, 290 establishments will be affected in the city. Across Maharashtra 9,925 shops and bars near state and national highways will have to close down or go permanently dry .

The move, said excise department sources, will eventually hit almost half of the state's excise revenue. The amount could be as high as Rs 5,000-6,000 crore every year.

Going by advocate general Mukul Rohatgi's opinion that the SC order pertained only to liquor vends, the state had initially proposed to remove 850 shops from near highways and let 9,075 bars go on functioning.

The two express highways that reach almost 25 km into Mumbai have some of the busiest stretches of bars, permit rooms and restaurants, many housed in starred hotels, in Andheri, Goregaon, Bandra, Borivli, Thane, Dahisar, Mira Road, Kandivli, Chembur, Kurla, and so on. If the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is taken into account, the number of affected establishments co mes to about 2,000, of which nearly 1,200 are bars and 800 shops.

Besides Mumbai, cities like Pune, Nagpur, Satara, Solapur, and Kolhapur will be hit badly as almost 90% liquor joints are located along highways passing through them.

Adarsh Shetty, president of Ahar, an association of over 8,000 bars and restaurants in Mumbai, called it the saddest day for the hospitality industry .

Shetty said, "None of the bars will be able to shift as relocation is a very tough job. Who eats food these days without liquor? Some of the shops may shift but ultimately the businesses will get affected badly, and so will government revenue."

Sources in the state PWD department said a possible denotification of all highway stretches passing through cities and towns is under consideration. Taking out the 'highway' tag from the roads and asking the local authorities to maintain them could save many of the bars, vends and permit rooms. But the move has yet to gain momentum.

The Supreme Court has said that the hotels and restaurants within 500 metres of national and state highways cannot serve liquor.

The top court had on December 15, 2016, asked all liquor vends alongside highways to relocate so that they are not visible to the highway.

However, Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi had opined that the order would not apply to hotels and restaurants. But the court has rejected this view. They will now have to relocate or stop liquor.

The court had ordered all liquor vendors, whose hotels or restaurants are within 500 metres range of the national and state highway, to relocate from their respective places in order to bring down alcohol induced accident deaths.

Small restaurants, which had welcomed the composite scheme that offered a GST rate of 5% (2.5% for Central GST and 2.5% for State GST), cannot opt for it if they sell liquor.

One of the restrictive conditions is that the taxpayer opting for this scheme must not be engaged in making any supply of goods which are 'not leviable' to tax under GST.

Liquor is entirely out of the GST ambit.

A composite levy is available for small taxpayers having a turnover of less than Rs 50 lakh. However, the fine print shows that there are many restrictions that will hamper taxpayers (say, small restaurants or dealers) from taking advantage of the scheme. Tax experts said that they have been bombarded with issues facing small players.

Sunil Gabhawalla, Indirect tax expert, said, "Take for instance, a handicraft supplier in Rajasthan. If a tourist visits and asks for delivery of an item by courier, it will be an inter-state sale and the dealer will be denied the benefit of the composite levy."

For dealers, the composite levy is 1% (0.5% under CGST and SGST respectively).

Many e-market places are persuading smaller players to sell goods via the portal. If they do so, they will not be able to take advantage of the composite scheme, as yet another restriction states that the taxpayer must not supply goods through an electronic-commerce operator, who is required to collect tax at source.

With just three days left for the state excise department to enforce the Supreme Court's judgment banning the sale of alcohol along national highways, liquor distributors and retailers are running confused and scared.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the Supreme Court’s judgment, alcohol distributors have also stopped selling alcohol on credit.

Alcohol distributors used to offer a 21-day credit mechanism to retailers but with the excise department yet to renew the licenses for 2017-18 for outlets operating within 500 meters of the highways, distributors have either stopped supplying fresh stock or are supplying purely on cash purchases.

Uncertainty on whether the judgment applies to bars and restaurants has also dampened sentiment and these outlets, which fall along the highways, have also reduced their stock of alcohol, especially imported, as well as premium Indian-made foreign brands. These outlets are also in discussions to offload slow moving stock.

Goa Chief minister, Manohar Parrikar issued directions stating that the apex court’s judgment did not apply to bars and restaurants.

Many of these stores have been operating with low inventories as distributors tighten the leash on supply and credit ahead of April 1. For retailers, the bigger worry is the reluctance of distributors to supply on credit. The demand for cash on delivery has put a strain on working capital in most stores, making it difficult for them to maintain adequate stocks of even popular brands, a retailer said.

An owner of a prominent liquor store in Panaji said the industry was unnerved by the Supreme Court’s judgment and the state government’s lack of interest.

The meeting between state finance and excise officials and representatives of the West Bengal Foreign Liquor Manufacturers (WBFLM), Wholesalers and Bonders Association has concluded on a positive note, with both groups eager to reach a consensus.

The state government has asked the distributors to resume normal supply to retailers, to which they have agreed. The association has requested the state government to think about a rehabilitation package for liquor distributors. Sources said the government has asked the association to prepare the blueprint for such a scheme.

The problem arose with the state government forming the West Bengal State Beverages Corporation Ltd, which will take up the wholesale trade of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and country spirit from April.

Both distributors and retailers complained that this transition period led to a shortage of liquor ahead of Holi, when consumption and demand escalate.

The state liquor distributors' body had sought a one-year time for migrating to the state government-led distribution of IMFL.

Hiranmay Gon, the secretary of the association, informed that after Tuesday's meeting that the state government had assured them of taking all un sold stocks from distributors and help the association realise the members' dues.

Gon added, "We were asking for a rehabilitation scheme and the state government has told us to prepare one."

Shiv Sultania, Director of East India Spirits and Distributors, said the wholesalers were happy with the meeting's outcome.

He added, "The state government, though, has made it clear that there is no chance of a rollback of the decision."

As of now, distributors have Rs 400 crore due to the retailers. There are about 10 manufacturing units engaged in production of IMFL in the state.

Haryana with the new excise police effecting an across the board, increase of 20% in prices of all the brands of country liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), and foreign liquor in the state.

Excise Policy for the year 2017-18 was unveiled by excise and taxation minister Captain Abhimanyu. The policy is being tagged as "vendor friendly" as it seems to favour the retailers than the buyers.

What's more, those living in Gurugram and Faridabad excise zones will have to pay more for drinking in pubs and bars as the licence fee has been increased from Rs 12 lakh to 15 lakh per annum. This excludes other levies.

Unlike previous years, the policy extends several choices to the vendors. Now, the vendor has an option of selling any kind of brand, be it country liquor or IMFL or both from same premises.

Keeping in view the orders of SC banning liquor vends along all highways, the state government has given the contractor freedom of chose the location of the vend. This come with an additional facility of allowing the licensee to open two sub-vends at the places of his choice in the particular zone allotted to him.

Abhimanyu, who is also the finance minister of Haryana, will present his third budget.

The excise department achieved the revenue target of just Rs 4,071crore against the target of 4,900 crore. Abhimanyu hinted at fixing Rs 5,500 crore as target for the next financial year. The minister said that he expected the licence fee and statutory levies for the licencess will help in achieving the current year target.

There can be a maximum of 3,500 retail outlets of CL and IMFL in the state for the year 2017-18. Since the licensees have been allowed to open two subvends under each vending licence, the number of vends in rural and urban could go as high as 9,000.

Abhimanyu said, "Allotment of liquor vends would be made on the basis of zones in a shift from allotment on the basis of group of vends as in the previous year. The zones will comprise six retail vends."

A two month-old notification of the Union Ministry for Roads, Transport, Highways and Shipping, which in January upgraded 21 major state roads to the status of national highways, will put 90 per cent of the state's liquor outlets out of business, the opposition alleged.

Demanding an immediate withdrawal of the notification by the central government, Congress state President Luizinho Faleiro said the state government needed to lobby aggressively with the Centre, to ensure that owners of liquor outlets and bars do not suffer on account of the Supreme Court's recent decision to ban bars within 500 metres of highways.

Faleiro told media that, "Ninety per cent major roads in Goa are now state and national highways because of the notification. It will affect 7,000 to 8,000 liquor outlets in the state. Which means those many families are going to be affected. This will bring misery to people and the government is just not bothered."

According to the state's Excise Department, there are around 11,000 excise licence holders in the Goa, authorised to sell liquor.

Before the Union Roads and Transport Ministry notification was highlighted by the local media, an exercise conducted by the state excise officials had revealed that between 3,200 to 3,500 bar and liquor outlets would be affected by the apex court's ban.

Faleiro said, "Earlier, the official survey of liquor outlets revealed that around 3,200-3,500 outlets would be directly affected, but now the number would be much more. As many as 90 per cent of the liquor outlets and bars in the state now come under the purview of the Supreme Court ban."

He accused the central government of arbitrarily taking the decision to upgrade the major roads in the state to the status of highways.

He further added, "We strongly condemn this and warn the government, especially the central government, that they cannot take decisions like this, which are not only arbitrary, but high-handed. I would say they are draconian, which will destroy the livelihood of 90 per cent of the bars and restaurants of Goa."

SC's liquor ban on highways order to be applicable to Haryana shops and vends but not on restaurants and bars

The state government has said that the places such as the Gurgaon's popular eating district of CyberHub, where alcohol is served will continue to be in business. But, liquor vends on highways will be shut down on April 1 in keeping with a Supreme Court order.

The decision comes after the country’s top legal officer, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, told the Haryana government that the Supreme Court’s order banning sale of liquor within 500 meters of national and state highways across the country was only applicable to shops and vends and not to restaurants and bars.

A Haryana official said, "We will go by the attorney general’s clarification on the Supreme Court order which means there will be no restriction on restaurants and bars selling liquor."

Rohatgi’s advice will bring relief to other states as well. Southern state of Kerala had got a similar response from Rohatgi after it sought his views.

To reduce drink driving and road accidents that claim thousands of lives every year, the court said on December 15 licences of liquor shops close to the highways would not be renewed after March 31.

The Gurgaon’s excise department had identified 89 liquor vends and 143 pubs in the red zone.

Rohatgi’s advice differs from that of Haryana advocate general Baldev Raj Mahajan, who had told the state that all liquor shops along highways would be affected after which the Khattar government sought the AG’s views.

Mahajan said, "I am yet to examine the attorney general’s opinion. But obviously his view matters as he is also representing the government in the Supreme Court."

The Raghubar Das government is set to take direct control of the retail sale of alcohol in Jharkhand.

The state cabinet, headed by chief minister Raghubar Das has approved the excise department's proposal to open state-run licensed liquor shops across non-scheduled areas from August 1.

The 11-member cabinet also approved the excise department's proposal to not renew the licenses of existing retail liquor stores and not issue licenses to new applicants.

Avinash Kumar, Secretary of the department, said "The Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Limited (JSBCL) was regulating the whole liquor sales in the state. The JSBCL will extend its control over the retail alcohol sales as well."

Kumar said private control of the retail liquor sales has been causing heavy revenue losses to the government. "The new retail stores will be opened as per necessity," he added. At present, there are more than 1,432 licensed retail liquor stores in the state.

The Das cabinet has also approved 36 proposals from various government departments. It sanctioned Rs 119.34 crore for a new urban planning and management institute building in Ranchi, Rs 30.99 crore for new a municipal corporation building in Deoghar and Rs 48 crore for a new Ranchi Municipal Corporation building.

The cabinet further amended the state higher and technical education department's regulations to incorporate career advancement scheme (CAS) to facilitate promotions of teachers of various state-run universities. It sanctioned Rs 50 crore for boosting poultry farming run by women self-help groups across districts.

The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 254.16 crore for Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL), for implementing unfinished work under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana in Latehar, Palamu and Garhwa districts.

A Supreme Court order banning sale of liquor along national and state highways has left some restaurant and bar operators jittery, even as they await some clarity.

Haryana government officials may be interpreting the judgment to include eateries though many owners say the order is meant only for liquor shops and Gurgaon's residents can rest assured their favorite watering holes won't be affected.

"It is against liquor vends and not against bars and restaurants," said Riyaaz Amlani, president of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). Amlani is also CEO of Impresario, the operator of dozens of restaurants pan-India, including the Social and Smoke House Deli.

The Supreme Court, on December 15, ordered that "all states and Union Territories shall forthwith cease and desist from granting licenses for sale of liquor along national and state highways." Liquor licenses that are currently valid won’t be renewed after March 31, 2017.

The ruling came in a case that sought to close liquor vends along highways to curb fatalities caused by drunken driving. The order covers highway stretches that fall within municipal corporation, city, town or local authority limits.

No liquor shop should be visible from a national or state highway. Neither should they be directly accessible from a highway or situated within 500 metres of the outer edge of a highway or a service lane alongside it. If the order includes bars and restaurants, several outlets in food and beverage destinations CyberHub and Sector 29 — both located close to National Highway 8 — will be badly hit.

There are about 70 restaurants in and around Sector 29 and more than 30 in CyberHub that serve liquor, according to restaurant listing website Zomato.

Amlani said NRAI, which has more than lakh members, recently sought legal opinion on the order from a retired Supreme Court judge and a former high court judge and found that it is not applicable to bars and eateries.

Amlani said, "There are so many five star hotels all along highways. It has been interpreted wrongly. Bars and restaurants have nothing to do with the order. It is about shops where people buy liquor on the way."

Nonetheless, many restaurant and bar operators in Gurgaon have their fingers crossed as they meet Haryana government officials.

Rahul Singh, Founder, the Beer Cafe chain, said, "Haryana has taken a somewhat self-detrimental (position) as they feel hotels and restaurants should be part of it (the order). Haryana’s excise policy is expected in the next few weeks, so there is confusion for now."

Amlani of NRAI said that while there are some concerns about the Haryana government’s interpretation of the order, their legal opinion is “crystal clear” that the ruling is in no way going to impact restaurants and bars.

Thirty-four pubs and bars in Gurgaon's upscale DLF CyberHub, near the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, are staring at an uncertain future after the Supreme Court mandated that sale of liquor will not be allowed within 500 metres of national and state highways.

The excise department has also identified another 109 pubs and 43 liquor vends that would lose their licences on April 1 in compliance with the apex court order.

The bars in several five-star hotels and resorts, located along the expressway, also fall within the red zone.

On December 15, the Supreme Court had directed states and union territories to stop sale of liquor within 500 metres of national and the state highways, as well as on service lanes along highways.

The court also directed the administration and the police departments of all states to chalk out a plan for enforcement within a month.

Some pubs and bars in the Sector 29 market will also be affected. A number of such outlets are also located along Sohna Road.

Aruna Singh, Deputy Excise and taxation commissioner, Gurgaon, said, "We will comply with the orders of the Supreme Court. We have conducted a survey and will shortly submit the report to the headquarters."

Pub owners are planning to meet the excise department officials to get more clarity on the matter.

Arvind Kumar, General Manager, The Wine Company, said, "Restaurants are being targeted unjustifiably. A restaurant is the safest place for an individual to drink and at least more than three-and-a-half lakh employees face the risk of losing jobs."

Goumtesh Singh, Owner, Raasta Cafe, said, "Due to a lack of description in the ruling, all food and beverages outlets have come under the scanner. Let’s hope that the Supreme Court will explain this and give us a realistic guideline of the ruling."

Jhonnie Walker, the world’s largest selling scotch whiskey has lost its pace in India and it is its smaller rival Chivas Regal who took the lead. This for the first time that world’s scotch giant’s sales has been challenged by a smaller brand.

As per the market data, Chivas Regal managed to sell its 12 year old scotch’s 1.37 lakh cases as compared to 1.29 lakh cases of Jhonnie Walker Black Label in the bottled-at-source, premium blended scotch segment.

According to the latest report from International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR), though the Johnnie Walker family of brands together outsells the competing Chivas Regal portfolio, the loss of leadership in the country's most visible segment of scotch consumption is a setback for Diageo. Johnnie Walker Black has lagged behind the peer from the stables of Pernod Ricard in the five year and ten year compounded growth rates, while volume sales last year tumbled 21.8 per cent.

This data accumulates sales of domestic retail as well as duty free sales. India gets its most duty free sales through the airports (almost 80 per cent) and hence it can be marked as the most convenient route for domestic consumption. Pernod Ricard's sustained, promotional work at duty-free and strong show in pushing sales at upmarket on-trade premises has favored slow and steady climb of Chivas Regal, said top industry observers who didn't wish to be named. Interestingly, data from Canadean, which takes into account domestic sales only, shows Johnnie walker much ahead of Chivas Regal.

Chivas Regal 12-Year-Old saw depletion rise 12.3 per cent last calendar, up from 1.22 lakh cases in 2014. The brand which Pernod Ricard acquired from Seagram's in one of the biggest industry consolidation deals outpaced Johnnie Walker with 9.9 per cent and 14.7 per cent compounded growth over a five year and ten year period respectively. Johnnie Walker reported 2.7 per cent and 2.3 per cent growth over a similar time frame, IWSR added.

Restaurants in Kolkata are claiming that the business was severely affected by the dry days that fall during During Puja, dropping sales of 20 per cent.

Peeved at being denied puja business, the Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) has approached the state government to cut down on the number of dry days. While October 20 and 21 were declared dry on account of Durga puja, October 23 and 24 were dry due to Muharram.

The usual long queues in front of restaurants and pubs at Park Street and Esplanade were missing this puja. It was relatively easier to find a seat even at the perennially crowded places like Peter Cat, Mocambo, Bar-B-Q, One Step Up and Mocambo at Park Street, Amber on Bentinck Street and Oh Calcutta! at the Forum mall.

“It was a big blow for the industry since customers generally felt discouraged to visit restaurants. Even though family diners are more common during pujas and the accent is on a good meal, many like to start off with a couple of drinks. The dry period meant our entire liquor sale was wiped out. Even food sales, though it was better than last year, didn’t reach the volume it could have without drinks,” said Nitin Kothari, owner of Peter Cat and Mocambo. Liquor sales contribute 15% of the revenue at these two restaurants.

Amber, too, lost business due to the dry period, said owner Sanjay Khullar. Sagar, another restaurant owned by him was shut down during the pujas. “It was a lean puja, perhaps the worst we have had in recent years. Food sales were good but we lost about 30% of our business. Without liquor it wasn’t feasible to run Sagar so we had to shut it down. On behalf of the restaurant owners’ association, we have approached the state government to consider cutting down the number of dry days,” said Khullar.

Some like Trincas and Oasis on Park Street had opted for a late closure during the pre-puja weekend. Liquor sales picked up but the additional revenue, they claimed was still not enough to make-up for the puja slowdown. “It was disastrous. Customers were clearly disappointed having to wind up their diners without a drink. We lost around 15-20% in terms of sales,” said Dipak Puri, owner of Trincas.

Down the street, Oasis, very also a loser on the revenue front, but the dry period allowed a different set of customers to walk into restaurants, pointed out Pratap Daryanani, owner. “While some our regular patrons stayed away, we had a new set of people coming in. Also, without drinks, the turnover of customers was high which helped business. We opted for a late closing on the pre-puja weekend which offset some of the loss. But during an occasion like the pujas, you are not looking for just profits. These things have to be taken in your stride,” argued Daryanani.

Trincas and Oasis on Park Street opted for a late closure during the pre-puja weekend. Liquor sales picked up but the additional revenue was still not enough to make-up for the puja slowdown.

Restaurant owners are worried about the next pujas. “Puja outings are planned in advance so if the dry period continues to be long, revelers will be inclined to omit their eating out plans. This year, we had quite a few people cancelling their bookings, preferring to party at home instead,” said Kothari.

He argued that restaurants should be kept out of the purview of dry days during festivals. “People who are likely to create trouble never visit upscale restaurants. They would prefer to buy liquor from off-shops,” he pointed.