Beverage, cigarette industries ask government to let them open business

Nepal Liquor and Cigarette Industries’ Association today urged the government to allow supplies of beverage and cigarette by easing lockdown.
Issuing a press note today, they also urged the government to allow beverage and cigarette industries and suppliers to operate at least a few hours daily. Beverage and cigarette Industries contribute more than Rs 10 billion to the national coffer annually and provide employment to more than 2 million people, the press note reads, adding that the lockdown has, however, made millions of people jobless. “It will not only hit the daily lives of beverage and cigarette suppliers but also the economy.
The association has also drawn the government’s attention towards the illegal production and distribution of liquor during the lockdown, which will not only bleed the government coffer but also create health hazards.
The government has though targeted to mobilise Rs 111.2 billion revenue in the current fiscal year, the lockdown of almost two months has hit the government target. However, the government is still optimistic of mobilising Rs 800 billion, according to the Finance Ministry.

Entrepreneurs seek minimum limit on 'drunk driving'

Liquor manufacturers and distributors, and restaurant entrepreneurs have urged the government to amend the current Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 1993 — that has strictly prohibited 'drunk driving' without fixing the minimum limit — as the current Act has hit the liquor business.

The current movement of Traffic Police against drunk driving is good, but it has to be amended according to international standards, they said, adding that the current drive has hit liquor sales as the Act has not fixed a minimum limit, as is the international practice.

"We are planning to hold discussions with concerned authorities including the Traffic Police on the proposed draft," said president of Restaurant and Bar Association Nepal Tejendra Nath Shrestha, adding that a person will be allowed to consume up to 120ml of liquor and two bottles of beer, according to the proposed draft. "If anyone drinks above the minimum limit and drives, the Traffic Police should fine them."

Internationally, drunk driving has a minimum limit that varies from country to country. "In the US, one can drink 80ml and drive, whereas the minimum consumption limit is 50ml in Germany, and 60ml in Australia," Shrestha added. "Likewise, India has fixed a minimum consumption limit of 30ml."

The Rs 11.70 billion worth domestic liquor industry is not only a business in Nepal, he said, adding that it also holds cultural importance in every occasion from birth to death depending on the community. "The amendment will not only support the current drive against drunk driving but also help industries grow," said the association's general secretary Pramod Kumar Jaisawal.

According to the Nepal Liquor Manufacturers’ Association, the country manufactures liquor worth Rs 11.70 billion, whereas liquor worth some Rs four billion is imported annually.

"The current drive against drunk driving is positive socially as it has reduced fatal road accidents of late, but the government must think economically too and find a win-win solution for both manufacturers and the government," according to Nepal Liquor Manufacturers’ Association.

The drop in sales by around 30 per cent to 40 per cent has also hit revenue mobilisation, it said, adding that the government failed to meet its excise duty and VAT mobilisation target also due to low consumption of liquor of late.

 

New committee

KATHMANDU: Industrial Promotion Board, last week, formed a committee under a joint secretary to revise the old standards of issuing licence to liquor industry and update it taking stock of various changed contexts including environmental, social, prospectus of foreign direct investment and flow of investment from productive sectors to unproductive sector, before issuing the licence. "Some 110 applicants — including leading business houses — have applied for licences to open new liquor factories at the Department of Industry  promising more than Rs 18 billion investment," the department — that has sent the applications to the board for approval — said, adding that the number of liquor companies will increase as the government had three months back decided to issue licence to new liquor manufacturers, after a 11-year old ban on liquor licence. The government had, in October 2001, decided to stop providing licence to new liquor manufacturers. The department data revealed that only 10 — out of 15 big and medium-sized liquor factories registered with the department — are in operation currently.

Sale ban has liquor makers in a bind

Two persons died as a result of drinking spurious that has flooded the market but the government instead of taking action against the adulteraters is punishing us by banning our products, liquor industry players alleged today. They said that they also suspected the involvement of some bureaucrats and the police as the seized spurious liquor bottles had proper stickers, just like as on the original ones.
The industry that contributes 25 per cent to the total revenue is in a soup due to deaths of the two persons caused by drinking Khukri Rum and Virgin Whisky brands of liquor. “The government’s ban on our products without any investigation just days after it gave us a clean cheat does not make sense,” said Sabin Lal Shrestha, president of Nepal Liquor and Cigarette Industries’ Association (NLCIA).
There is a huge gang involved in making the spurious duplicate liquor, Shrestha said accusing the government of banning some of the industry’s best-selling products even when it did not find anything wrong after tests. “The government took liquor samples from liquor industries and gave us a clean cheat, only to ban some of our products when the second person died,” he added.Police had conducted raids in Boudha and Dhapasi a few weeks ago and confiscated a huge stock of spurious liquor of various popular brands that contained methanol — a deadly substance — but bottled properly with stickers like original ones.
“Those involved in running a duplicate liquor factory were arrested but set free after nominal fines,” Shrestha said adding that they should be punished severely as adulateration was only not only black marketeering but also a crime against humanity. “The adulteraters prepared fake stickers, mixed methanol in the liquor and sold the poisonous mixture but the government is treating us as like culprit,” he said.
Amit Goswami, chief executive officer of The Nepal Distilleries Pvt Ltd that manufactures Khukri Rum, a popular brand that is being blamed for the recent deaths, opined that thegovernment should take steps to check duplicate and adulterated liquor instead of banning popular and genuine brands.
Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce (FNCCI), said that the government should protect local brands. “If any industry indulges in adulteration, it should be punished but if the liquor industries are not doing so their brands must be protected,” he said.