PHDCCI UP Chapter Deliberates On 'Reviving The F&B Industry In Uttar Pradesh'

Lucknow, December 4 (TNA) The Uttar Pradesh Chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in collaboration with Radico Khaitan Ltd. & Superior Industries Ltd. organised a virtual conference on “Reviving the Food & Beverage (F&B) Industry of Uttar Pradesh" on Friday.

The objective of the Webinar was to discuss and shed light upon the economic rationale behind Food and Beverage Industry and the State Government’s role in it, to discuss the current impact and forecast aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Food and Beverage Industry in Uttar Pradesh. The Virtual Conference also aimed to pave the possible way- outs for better Food and Beverage Industry in the State.

The welcome remarks were given by Pradeep Multani, Senior Vice President, PHDCCI who said that the revenue generated by alcohol funds nearly one-fifth of the budget of Uttar Pradesh – and this share is going up every year.

Barring Gujarat and a few other states where alcohol is banned, revenue from liquor is the second, third or fourth largest contributor to most parts of India. Uttar Pradesh collected a monthly average amount of Rs 2,500 crore from liquor in the last financial year and the same is expected to rise to about Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year.

In the FY 2018-2019 Uttar Pradesh collected the highest revenue from excise duty on liquor in the Country. This Sector has been identified as one of the priority sector under “Make in India” initiative. Funds of INR 20 Billion have been set up by NABARD to provide the credit facilities to meet the needs of the F&B Sector.

The theme address was given by Pradeep Agarwal, Chairman – Superior Industries Limited & Co-Chairman, UP Chapter, PHDCCI, who laid emphasis that soft drinks are completely safe and have no bearing with the present covid-19 outbreak and also said that the studies has shown that the consumption of soft drinks have nothing to do with the spread of COVID-19.

The Consumer’s trust that soft drinks are safe and their quality is guaranteed, needs to be further revived and strengthened through the Government and experts in this area. He also mentioned that the Indian alcohol market is expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% with wine and vodka showing a very high demand. India also happens to be one of the largest consumers of whiskey in the world.

The sale of alcoholic beverages has gone up by 38% between 2010 and 2017 and Uttar Pradesh - one of the fastest growing alcohol consumer States in India remains the major contributor in this data. He concluded by saying that the Food & beverage companies should revisit their sourcing strategies, rationalize their product ranges, and assess the capacity of their supply chains as well as their route-to-market channels. E-commerce and distribution networks should be optimized and streamlined.

Satish Srivastava, CMD, Nilansh Theme Park & Co-Chairman, UP Chapter, PHDCCI, in his address said that the outbreak of the dreaded corona virus has brought about a groundbreaking change in what the world perceived as ‘normal’. Major industry verticals have been adversely affected on account of this pandemic, as manufacturers of the State strive to keep their businesses afloat amid what is being hailed by financial analysts as ‘a situation far worse than the economic upheaval of 2008-2009’. Among the many sectors that have witnessed a downfall, the food & beverage industry seems to have taken one of the worst hits. In the coming times, the F&B market vendors will need to prepare themselves for the long-term impact of COVID-19, which is likely to step up as one of the major challenges of food and beverage industry.

Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Excise, Government of Uttar Pradesh in his address, said that the department of excise is working strongly towards bringing more transparency in Policy Making and encouraging ease of doing business in the State by which they have been trying to reduce the human interface by maximising the usage of IT platforms and services while ensuring full compliance to regulatory regime and also by reducing the number of interfaces at distillery level, as a result of which the department is able to increase the number of transactions up to 30% in comparison to last financial year.

He complimented the salient features of the existing Excise and Molasses Policy of the State and also informed that the department is on the verge of making second excise policy with moderations as per the new industry standards. He further informed that despite the lockdown, the department successfully issued 250 beer bar licenses along with 12 micro braveries licenses and more than a dozen composite hotel licenses.

He concluded by emphasizing on the fact that over the period of 20 years EoDB has tremendously been simplified in the State and with the hard and dedicated work of the Government, it is to be simplified further with the aim of increasing the businesses in the Beer, IMFL and country liquor sector.