Karnataka restores third shift ops at beer breweries

Bengaluru: The Karnataka excise department on Monday restored permission to Heineken-controlled United Breweries, Belgium-headquartered AB InBev and other breweries to operate third shift (10 pm to 6 am) following backlash.

On December 6, the excise department had withdrawn third shift operations at United Breweries, AB InBev, Carlsberg and B9 Beverages (Bira) citing shortage of staff.

According to sources, permission was restored after a minister pulled up the excise department for halting third shift operations at the breweries. The minister argued that the excise department's decision ran the risk of hampering the state's reputation on ease-of-doing-business.

Following the December 6 directive, concerns were expressed over a possible shortage of beer in the run-up to the peak season around Christmas and New Year.

The excise department's move was seen as a manoeuvre to shore up sales of Indian-made Liquor (IML) such as rum and whisky, which brings in more revenue compared with beer. In the current fiscal, the government wants to earn Rs 36,000 crore in excise revenue. At the end of November, the government had mopped up Rs 22,157.25 crore. Much of this is from IML at Rs 17,864.48 crore against beer's Rs 3,515.76 crore.

Karnataka is considered among India's top beer markets. According to the latest industry estimates, the state consumers around 3.8 hectolitres of beer annually, which is roughly 11 per cent of the national .