Bengaluru: Citing shortage of excise department staff in the region, the Karnataka government has ordered breweries in Mysuru to suspend the third shift of operations.
The government order in this regard, dated 6 December 2023, asks four major breweries to stop the third shift (typically from 10 pm to 6 am).
ThePrint has seen a copy of the order which names four breweries: United Breweries, Carlsberg India, B9 beverages in Nanjangud taluk and Anheuser Busch InBev in T. Narasipura.
“The order was passed as there is a shortage of personnel in this particular region,” said a senior official of the state excise department who did not wish to be named.
A second official said two excise department staffers are attached with each brewery to supervise operations. “We are working at 55-60 percent strength and all beer breweries are concentrated here. It becomes difficult to dedicate staff. But this hasn’t affected supply.”
The government order stated that since there are no adequate number of excise officials in the district and its subdivisions, the permissions given for a “third shift stands withdrawn”. It is unclear if this order will be revised.
“Usually distilleries requisition us to run a third shift and if that is not possible or not required, we can take it (permission) back . It is a procedure to be followed,” Nirmala N., Joint Commissioner of Excise (Distilleries & Breweries), told ThePrint Sunday.
An employee with a brewery in the region said on condition of anonymity that the order came as a “shocker”.
“We were not expecting it and it will have a big impact on us since during December and January consumption is higher due to Christmas and New Year. Karnataka is literally the heart of the beer market and Bengaluru is the beer capital. We can’t quantify the impact as yet but it will roll over to the next year and have a bigger impact,” he said.
In Karnataka, excise or liquor production, procurement and sales is a highly regulated sector. It is also one of the biggest revenue generators for the government.
Soon after the new Congress government was formed in May, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah increased duty on liquor by 20 percent on all 18 slabs of Indian Made Liquor (IML) and 10 percent on beer to mobilise revenue, mainly to fund welfare schemes.
Beer is big in terms of volumes but lower in terms of revenues when compared to IML or Indian Made Liquor. In the current fiscal year, Karnataka has sold 282.64 lakh carton boxes of beer since 1 April, as against 244.53 lakh carton boxes in the corresponding period last year, registering a 15.58 percent increase, according to data from the excise department
In comparison, 469.91 lakh carton boxes of IML were sold since 1 April this year, as against 455.55 lakh carton boxes in the corresponding period last year.
Together, the two categories raked in Rs 22,157 crores in 2023 — Rs 2,500 crore more than the collection during the same period last year.
The state government revised and set a target of Rs 36,000 crore for the excise department for the ongoing fiscal.
However, excise department officials dismissed the notion that the decision to deny breweries permission for a third shift is an attempt to promote IML over beer.
“There is focus on both beer and IML,” said the first excise official cited earlier.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)