NEWS
INDIA’S MAGHALAYA STATE LEGALISES SALE OF HOME MADE FRUIT WINES
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
28-9-2020
Credit: Louis Hansel/Unsplash
The Meghalaya State in Northeastern India legalises sale of home made fruit wines, with hopes that it will blossom into a vibrant cottage industry helping tourism and job creation.
The state government introduced the Manufacture and Sale of Home Made Fruit Wines Rules 2020 last Thursday, which allows local authority to issue licenses to individual winemakers in the state.
“We have now formally created the rules where individuals can sell their home made wines in the market,” Meghalaya state chief minister, Conrad K Sangma, said after last Thursday’s cabinet meeting.
He said that the new rules would help farmers in the state who produce a variety of fruits to sell their products locally which can then be value added by the local winemakers.
To encourage higher productivity, the tax to be paid by winemakers will be lower than other products at Rs100 (USD1.35) per case and the winemakers will not have to pay VAT.
The state government has also set the license fee at only Rs7,500 (USD167.7) to encourage more individuals to enter the industry.
President of the Meghalaya Wine Makers Association, Michael Syiem, said the move will boost the horticultural sector of the state, allow it to blossom into a cottage industry helping tourism and generate much-needed job opportunities.
“We are very happy at the decision and we feel it is the rightful culmination of a long and arduous campaign by all stakeholders,” Syiem told Hindustan Times.
The new rules will also ensure that the final wine products will meet certain standards and quality for better protection of the consumers.
The Meghalaya state produces an abundance of fruits, not limited to grapes, from which wine can be made. A fruit wine festival has been going on in state capital Shillong for 18 years attracting winemakers and tourists from across the country to showcase and sell their home made fruit wines every year on second Saturday of November.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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