All companies manufacturing and marketing India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) in Assam will now have to carry on the bottles a statutory warning consumption of liquor is injurious to health just as cigarette packets do all over the country.
A stricture issued by the state government in this respect will come into effect in February, as indicated by the commissioner of excise in a recent communication.
The state government has also issued a guideline restricting the movement of liquor bottles across its borders.
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Government official said the move had been prompted by the different structure of duties on liquor and beer in the adjoining states and in Bhutan.
In a letter numbered III-25/96/31, the commissioner of excise has issued a stricture stating that IMFL manufactured by any company in Assam should contain the statutory warning which would compulsorily be printed on the labels of each size of bottles.
The labels that have to be carried from the beginning of the next month will have two impositions, in English as well as Assamese, which would read as: Consumption of liquor is injurious to health and For sale in Assam only.
The commissioner has stated that serious action would be taken against the company which would violate the stricture. The penalty could be a complete ban on the brand or its blacklisting in the state.
Sources said the lower rates of duties imposed in the North-East had led to an increased movement of stocks out of these states. The excise duty in Arunachal Pradesh is as low as Rs 8 per case.
This, along with a zero sales tax, has caused large-scale movement of liquor bottles out of the state.
The liquor manufacturers were so far exempted from carrying the warning on the labels of IMFL bottles in Assam and other north-eastern states.
With the regulation coming into force, it may be necessary to go in for a demand forecast for individual states, especially Assam, where the regulation is being imposed.
Assam now has a market for 4.5 lakh cases of beer. Meghalaya has the second largest market in the region 1.50 lakh cases. The figure in Arunachal Pradesh cannot be calculated as most of the bottles go out of the state. Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland are the dry states in the region.
The government has asked the excise officers to keep a vigil on all IMFL marketed in Assam and submit information on all statutory warnings printed on the labels of bottles.
The officers in charge of bonded warehouses have been asked to ensure that IMFL bottles carry printed warnings by the manufacturing distillery when they arrive at the warehouse. Departmental action would be taken against officers who fail to comply.
The regulation is likely to affect the secondary market, although this may be only a short-term problem.