Centre plans to set up wine board

In order to give a further boost to the country's fast-growing wine industry, the Centre has proposed to form a National Grape and Wine Board (NGWB) on the lines of other commodities boards such as the Tea Board.

The Union ministry of food processing industry has prepared a detailed project profile of the proposed board. The report has been accepted by the ministry of agriculture and has been sent to the Planning Commission for approval.

The proposed board will have its headquarters in Maharashtra "� the largest grape growing region in the country. It is, however, yet to be decided whether it will be in Pune or Nashik.

The Pune-based management consultancy organisation Mitcon Consultants have been assigned the task of preparing the detailed project report for setting up of the board. The consultants panel that worked on the project report included grape experts S G Sathe and G T Godbole and wine industry advisor Dhananjay Datar, who has spent many years with the country's largest wine company Champagne Indage.

Mitcon's managing director Pradeep Bavadekar told Business Standard that the state has taken major strides in grape and wine production in the past five years. The area under grape cultivation in Maharashtra is about 32,000 hectare and is continuously growing, thanks to policy measures announced by the state government, he said.

According to him, it is essential that the right grape varieties for wine making are grown in the country. "The world wine production is over 30 billion litres, but India contributes little towards this. The wines made in the country, however, are increasingly getting acceptance globally and domestic consumption is also growing," he said. The local wine industry is growing at 25-30 per cent and the consumption has gone up to 2 million litres, he informed.

Bavadekar said the board's main objective will be to give a competitive edge to the grape and wine industry at international levels. "The Board will help define policy, develop wine standards, monitor the regulatory norms and compliances, and most importantly, extend marketing support for wine makers in the international markets," Bavadekar explained.

The most important task before the board would be to develop wine standards and certify different brands for their veracity. According to international norms, a wine, which is labelled after a particular grape variety (say Cabernet) must contain at least 95 per cent of the juice obtained from that variety. "Additionally, the imported wines will also be checked for the composition of their juice contents so that the consumer knows whether he is buying the right wine at a right price," Datar said.

The Mitcon report has proposed an initial grant of Rs 10 crore from the Centre. The report has recommended income streams such as registration fees, certification fees and renewal charges to make the board self-sustaining in two years.

Secretary to the ministry of food processing industries P I Suvrathan said the report is now with the Planning Commission and the ministry of finance. "The initial budgetary support for the board will come from the ministry of food processing but the two bodies have to clear the proposal before it is set up," Suvrathan said.