Mumbai: India and the UK have signed a trade deal that will cut import duties on UK-made whisky and gin in half — from the current 150% to 75%, with a plan to further reduce them to 40% over the next 10 years. However, consumers shouldn’t expect a major price drop right away, say industry experts.
Currently, import duties make up just 10–15% of the final price of a bottle on the shelf. So even with the reduced tariffs, the actual savings for consumers might be limited to just ₹100–300 per bottle. Most global liquor companies already set their base prices lower to balance India’s high import taxes, so they may simply pocket the savings instead of passing them on.
Moreover, other cost factors — like state taxes, production, distribution, and marketing — remain unchanged. That means the real impact on consumer pricing is small.
Jean-Etienne Gourgues, CEO of Chivas Brothers, said the deal is still good news for the industry as it will encourage long-term investment and job creation in both India and Scotland, especially in distilleries and bottling plants.
Currently, Scotch whisky has just a 4% share in India’s massive whisky market due to its high price. Most Scotch imported into India is brought in bulk and bottled locally, which means the tariff cuts will only affect the liquid part of the cost, not the packaging or local production costs.
Vinod Giri, a liquor industry expert, summed it up: “This deal mostly improves the profit margins of liquor companies. It won’t drastically change the Indian whisky market or benefit Indian producers in a big way.”
