Wine import duties remain unchanged
| While many in the wine industry were hoping that the Indian government would reduce the high taxes on the import of wine and beer in the new budget, there was no such luck. Indian Finance Minster P. Chidambaram decided to keep the taxes at 150% even while under pressure from the EU. Hotels are the only exception as they do not have to pay duty on wine, beer and other liquor. |  |
In contrast to the Indian government, the Hong Kong government slashed duties from 80% to 40%. This makes Hong Kong a more attractive market for wine lovers than India. The only difference between the Hong Kong and the Indian wine markets is that Hong Kong has no domestic producers who would benefit from high tariffs.
View our older blog posts on wine tariffs to learn lots more about this issue. Also read Italy's take on the wine tariffs.
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