To attract the sole wine producer Champagne Indage Ltd, the Madhya Pradesh government today amended the MP Excise Act, 1915, and announced its "Wine Policy" named as "Grape Processing Industry Policy 2006." However, Champagne or any other company will have to make wine from homegrown grapes. |
The MP government today deleted wine from the negative list and awarded it industry status by according "food" status to grape wine. The wine sector, according to a government spokesperson, will be "priority" for loans from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. |
To simplify licensing, district collectors have been empowered to grant licences at a nominal fee of Rs 10,000 within a month. |
"A wine park will be set up in MP. The sector will be offered sops on a par with the food-processing industry. A committee headed by the agriculture production commissioner will be constituted to promote the wine sector," said the spokesperson. |
To attract investment from wineries, storage and retailing wine will be out of the purview of the MP Excise Act 1915. |
A seven-member committee headed by the agriculture production commissioner and members from the departments of industries, tourism, excise and state Agriculture Industries Corporation will assist in setting up wineries and related developments. |
Last year, Champagne Indage Ltd reportedly expressed interest in setting up a winery in the Ratlam region, the main wine-quality, grape-growing area. |
Wineries will be allowed to set up shop in food parks and retailing wine will be allowed in hotels, bars, and beer bars after paying a licence fee. |
Ratlam is the main grape-cultivating belt, where farmers grow grapes in 168 hectares, while farmers in Burhanpur, Rajgarh, and Ujjian have also reportedly started grape cultivation. |