No plan to hike prices of foreign liquor brands, says Bevco chairman
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Reports that Kerala State Beverages Corporation is getting ready to hike the prices of foreign-made foreign liquor (FMFL) brands in the state have created a flutter. According to a senior officer with a premium international brand, Bevco is getting ready to hike the 5% warehouse margin and 3% retail margin of foreign made foreign liquor brands to 14% and 20%, respectively.
However, Bevco, the public sector liquor monopoly in the state, denied the reports stating that the corporation prepares various worksheets in different duty or margin slabs. It could be one such worksheet prepared by the IT department for internal purposes has, perhaps, set the tongues wagging.
“In fact, Bevco has not made any hike in warehouse or retail margins of foreign made foreign liquor brands and it has no plans to hike the margins in the immediate future,” said Bevco CMD Yogesh Gupta.