On the occasion of the visit to Europe of Sonjoy Mohanty, Director General of International Spirits and Wine Association of India (ISWAI), and Amrit Kiran Singh (ISWAI President and Vice-President & Area Director for Brown Forman Spirits Worldwide) spiritsEUROPE organised a trade lunch with representatives from the Parliament, Commission and industry stakeholders. India is the largest whisky market in the world (170 million cases) yet less than 1% of consumption comes from imported products. The main reason: 150% customs duty on wine & spirits products.
The aim of the trade lunch was to explore options to improve market access for the benefit of all. The main message from this informal discussion was that once the Indian general elections will be over (results to be announced on 16 May), there are hopes for FTA negotiations to start again. In this respect, there should be no obstacles for tariff liberalisation as both domestic producers and importers associations have publically announced they agree to such a reduction.
Click here for the interview of Sonjoy Mohanty with Trade Insight.
