Dwindling drinkers

Country liquors are in, foreign liquors are out. And soft drinks are performing much better as compared to liquors, as a whole. In the first seven months of fiscal 2000, soft drinks registered a 26 per cent growth rate as opposed to 6 per cent last fiscal.

Compared to this, the production of liquor during April and October 1999 was 17 per cent lower than that of the corresponding period last fiscal. The production of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) was 22 per cent lower in the April-October period as compared to the same period last year.

However, the country liquor segment has been performing very well with a growth of 56 per cent during the April-October 1999 period. In October, in particular, the production of country liquor was up 77 per cent!