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As India’s per capita consumption of doubles, a consumers’ outfit on Thursday urged the state governments to correct their taxation policies to discourage the intake of “hard liquor” like whiskey, rum, vodka and gin while waving red flags on the growing tendency of binge drinking among youngsters and adverse social and health consequences of such a habit.
Between 2005 and 2016, India’s per capita consumption of pure alcohol shot up from 2.4 litres to 5.7 litres with a sharp rise in demand for whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, India-made foreign liquor and country liquor, as against soft liquor like beer and wine.
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Consumer VOICE , a Voluntary Action Group of Academicians, Professionals and Volunteers, working to raise awareness amongst Indian consumers about their rights, has demanded that the government should involve health authorities and formulae a central level policy to moderate consumption of liquor in India, which incidentally has seen a steep hike in the past few years, specially among the youth.
As per an Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and PLR report in 2016, India’s average per capita consumption was the highest in the world at 13.5 litres of pure alcohol from hard liquor (whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor) in comparison to just 1.1 litres of pure alcohol from beer.
However, in most other countries, beer consumption was far higher than hard liquor. In Australia, it was 5.3 litres vs 1.7 litres; in Brazil, it was 11.9 and 6.6 litres; in Canada, it was 6.2 and 3.6 litres and in the USA, it was 6.4 and 4.8 litres.
Pure alcohol is the actual alcohol content, which varies across beverages. For instance, in mild beer (650 ml)— 32.5 ml of pure alcohol is used while in red/white wine (750 ml)—97.5 ml of pure alcohol and 321 ml of pure alcohol is used in IMFL (750 ml bottle of whiskey, vodka, gin, rum etc).
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As India does not have a central policy to reduce alcohol consumption and is among the few countries which do not have guidelines on safe consumption, there is an urgent need for the government to recognise this issue and introduce cost-effective actions, including increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, said a consumer rights group.
Urging the government to consider a complete ban on the sale of alcohol in all forms of ultra-small packs or miniatures, sold in tetra, plastic or glass bottles, below a certain quantity, Consumer Voice said what is worrying is that consumption has increased among the age group of 15-30 years.Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO), Ashim Sanyal, the chief executive officer of the organisation, said that between 2005 and 2016, India’s per capita consumption of pure alcohol almost doubled from 2.4 litres to 5.7 litres.Most of this consumption was from beverages with high alcohol-by-volume content or hard liquor such as whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor, he added.
by control_zenuser | Feb 10, 2023 | In the news
An outfit called Consumer Voice, citing concerns about India’s high per-capita alcohol consumption, also urged a ban on ultra-small liquor bottles and a minimum unit price for alcohol to raise the cost of the least expensive alcoholic beverages
A consumer outfit on Thursday urged the Centre and states to revise excise policies to help curb alcohol consumption, saying current policies encourage intoxication through hard liquor such as rum, whiskey or vodka.
The outfit called Consumer Voice, citing concerns about India’s high per-capita alcohol consumption, also urged a ban on ultra-small liquor bottles and a minimum unit price for alcohol to raise the cost of the least expensive alcoholic beverages. It has asked governments to consult health departments to formulate alcohol control policies that would seek to moderate and reduce per capita consumption “instead of extreme steps like prohibition”.
High alcohol beverages such as whiskey currently attract the lowest duties which makes hard liquor, especially Indian-made foreign liquor, more affordable than low alcohol beverages such as beer or wine, Consumer Voice said. This duty structure, it said, encourages consumption of high alcohol beverages.
“India does not have a central-level policy to reduce alcohol consumption,” said Ashim Sanyal, the chief executive officer at Consumer Voice, a group of academics and volunteers campaigning for consumer rights through improvements in policies and rules.
The consumer group, citing a 2018 World Health Organisation report, said the per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in India had more than doubled from 2.4 litres in 2005 to 5.7 litres in 2016.
After China, India is the second largest consumer of hard liquor like rum, whiskey, or vodka. India’s per capita consumption of hard liquor was 13.5 litres, the highest in the world, compared to 6.6 litres in Brazil, 4.8 litres in the US, or 3.2 litres in Germany. However, India’s per capita alcohol from beer was 1.1 litres, compared with 6.4 litres in the US or 5.3 litres in Australia.
Consumer Voice has used pricing data from 2021 and 2022 to cite examples of how liquor prices in several states increase the affordability of hard liquor and encourage its consumption by making possible higher intoxication levels at the same or lower price.
In Karnataka, the lowest priced Indian whiskey was available for Rs 56 for 180ml, while the lowest priced beer cost Rs 50 for a 330ml pint.
The consumer group has credited four states — Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — for reducing taxes on beer to reduce prices and moderate the intake of high alcohol beverages.
