Arora was most critical of the Maharashtra government which increased the excise duties on wine imports across the board from the existing irrational duties of 150% which had come into being on 10th July after the ACDs were withdrawn by the central government a week earlier to that date.

What Arora found most upsetting was that the duty on the imports of expensive liquor including whisky and single malts etc was brought down further to 75%.

Citing this as the worst and most apparent and obscene kind of lobbying, he felt that this would deprive the middle class consumers of Maharashtra of decent quality wines and either force them to prefer whisky drinking or the bootleggers will thrive in the state. This was odd when the whole world was shifting towards wine. In fact, China is actively promoting wine consumption with the fiscal policies due to the health benefits.

He was equally critical of EU withdrawing the case in WTO against India prematurely and selling out the EU wine producers in favour of the Indian producers. He hoped that the US will continue the campaign at the WTO.

He however praised the Maharashtra government for being a progressive state and allowing the supermarkets to sell wine, hoping the imported wines will also be allowed to be sold at these places.

While supporting the government to protect the case of the Indian producers, the policy only helps them partially while affecting the import of fine wines.

Arora was however, very optimistic about the continued growth of the sector despite the road blocks. He appealed to the government to consider dropping the customs duty on the premium wines to 100% to make them more affordable.

He also appreciated the co-operation extended by the Delhi excise officials to the wine availability at the IFE as well as IWC. Without their active support Shows like IFE are not possibly going to flourish. A senior excise official at the show later informed Arora that the department appreciated the efforts of institutions like IWA and IFE as they are helping to improve the consumption of wine which means more revenues for the department. Therefore, within the rules, they are willing to extend any co-operations to such organizational efforts.

Addressing the audience in chaste Hindi, The Chief Guest, Hon’ble Minister for Industries, Labour etc., Mr. Mangat Singhal told the audience that the middle classes were increasing in numbers and they looked forward to better quality products, where the money was not much of a constraint. Even the women were taking to drinking wine which was getting more popular now anyway. Appreciating the effort being made by Indian Wine Academy to promote wine, he was optimist that the consumption will increase.

In reply to a TV reporter, he said that he was happy with the decision of Supreme Court yesterday allowing women to be bartenders. ‘The Indian women have advanced in education, professional contributions. They are ahead in all fields including TV reporting. Why should they not be allowed in this area too?’ he questioned.

IFE- India 2007 was inaugurated also by the Turkish Ambassador who talked about the growing relations with the two countries. The commercial counselor of Italy, Mr. Nicolo Tossoni was very happy about the 43% growth in Indo Italian business last year. ICE is a major participant this year with 350 sq mtrs. of space.

The show seemed quite successful with the MD of Montgomery International estimating a visit by about 1900 people on the first day and hoping there would be more on the second day.

Subhash Arora