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The alcohol, brewery and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) industry continues to play a key economic role in Karnataka and the country.
The industry provides employment to over 15,000 residents of Karnataka and generates over Rs 16,000 crore in revenue to the state exchequer, which is the second highest revenue earner for the state after commercial taxes, said Arun Kumar Parasa, President, Karnataka Brewers and Distillers’ Association (KBDA).
The KBDA celebrated its silver jubilee with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition, Jagadish Shettar, and Karnataka Minister of Excise, H.Y. Meti gracing the function.
“Today we have come together to celebrate the KBDA, which though envisioned as a common platform for all distilleries and breweries operating in the various districts of Karnataka by the then leaders of our industry, Ramchandra Khoday and F K Irani in the mid-70’s, was formalised and officially registered in the year 1990 and the Late H R Basavaraj went on to be our first President. Since then the KBDA has played a critical role in addressing the many challenges faced by our industry,” said Parasa.
Some of the main objectives of the KBDA were to uphold the rights of the industry to interact with the excise department and other departments of the government and to help reform the administration of excise law to suit present day requirements.
To celebrate the silver jubilee of KBDA, Parasa, said: “Our industry had always been supportive of community initiatives as part of our corporate-social responsibility. We have donated Rs 6 crore towards flood relief in 2009, Rs 2 crore to the Chief Minister’s relief fund, and Rs 2 crore for the Olympic Bhawan soon to come up in Bengaluru.”
“We also welcome the government’s initiative to earmark Rs 10 crore, with an equal amount from the industry, for various initiatives such as awareness towards responsible drinking,” said Arun Kumar Parasa.
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