Punjab Number 1 in what? How proud are you as a lazy, alcoholic, uneducated Punjabi while India shines!
Now, I know there are a lot of young, old, male, female, successful, good, Punjabis out there that are doing great things in and outside of Punjab, but the news below just saddenes me. Although it was in the business section of the Tribune, I wish it was the main headlines for all the newspapers! Just makes me wonder as to how and why Punjab is drowning in alcohol and becoming famous for lazy, no good, alcoholic, undereducated population? Is it the extra money and success inherited from past Punjabi generations of sucessful farmers and entrepeuners? It reminds me of a documentary I saw on Saudi Arabia how their local people are so useless and all of the work is done by the outsiders. And, some of the poor native American tribes in U.S. and Canada. I guess the hard earned money of past Punjabi generations of 50-60's is wasted on alcohol than building a better future.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070501/punjab1.htm#3
Punjab a key market for scotch whisky
Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 30The Punjabi taste for finer blends in liquor has led to a 50 per cent rise in liquor sales in the state. Though sales across various categories of liquor have increased manifold in the past one year, increase in sale of scotch whisky has led many premium liquor manufacturers from Scotland to now launch their brands in India.
Loch Lomand Distillers, a leading scotch distiller from Scotland, will be launching scotch whisky in Punjab, in association with Goa-based Vasco Da Gama Distilleries next month. Pawan Aggarwal, director, Vasco Da Gama Distilleries, informed TNS that with the country having annual sale of 300,000 cases of scotch whisky, there was a huge market for growth.
“Punjab, which has the second largest per capita consumption of liquor, is a key market for us. With two brands - King Bruce and William Mac Donald - we hope to sell 2000 cases of Scotch whisky a month in the state and 500 cases a month in Chandigarh,” he said.
With the government promising to reduce the cut in the custom duty on scotch whisky, their sale is bound to increase manifold in the coming year. The custom duty on scotch is proposed to be reduced from the present 350 per cent (on bottled scotch) and 170 per cent on bulk scotrch. This will drastically reduce the price of Scotch and make many consumers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and regular whisky, upgrade themselves to Scotch whisky.
Sunil Mehdiratta, secretary-general, International Spirits and Wines Association of India, informed TNS that it was difficult to determine the number of duty-free scotch whisky sales in the country. “But in the past one year, sale of scotch (including scotch bottled in India and duty paid scotch) has gone up from 7000 cases to 9000 cases, showing a 140 per cent rise. With the government allowing an increase in amount of scotch that an individual can carry from abroad and allowing the hotels to spend 5 per cent of foreign exchange earnings to buy imported scotch, the sales have gone up substantially,” he added.
Though no separate figures for sale of scotch in Punjab are readily available, trade pundits say that the state is a premium market because of the high paying capacity and social custom of living it up. In the past one year, sale of IMFL in Punjab has gone up by 49 per cent from 32.26 lakh cases in 2005-06 to 48.15 lakh cases in 2006-07. The sale of liquor in prestige whisky segment has gone up by 89 per cent in the past year (from 7.33 lakh cases in 2005-06, to 13.87 lakh cases in 2006-07), while that of regular whisky has shown a remarkable increase in liquor sales (from 29.33 lakh cases to 44.25 lakh cases).
It may be noted that Punjab boasts of the second highest per capita consumption of liquor (at 22.6 proof litres per person per year). The revenue collection from liquor in the past 10 years has increased from Rs 1143.51 crore in 1997 to over Rs 1600 crore in 2006-07.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070501/punjab1.htm#3
Punjab a key market for scotch whisky
Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 30The Punjabi taste for finer blends in liquor has led to a 50 per cent rise in liquor sales in the state. Though sales across various categories of liquor have increased manifold in the past one year, increase in sale of scotch whisky has led many premium liquor manufacturers from Scotland to now launch their brands in India.
Loch Lomand Distillers, a leading scotch distiller from Scotland, will be launching scotch whisky in Punjab, in association with Goa-based Vasco Da Gama Distilleries next month. Pawan Aggarwal, director, Vasco Da Gama Distilleries, informed TNS that with the country having annual sale of 300,000 cases of scotch whisky, there was a huge market for growth.
“Punjab, which has the second largest per capita consumption of liquor, is a key market for us. With two brands - King Bruce and William Mac Donald - we hope to sell 2000 cases of Scotch whisky a month in the state and 500 cases a month in Chandigarh,” he said.
With the government promising to reduce the cut in the custom duty on scotch whisky, their sale is bound to increase manifold in the coming year. The custom duty on scotch is proposed to be reduced from the present 350 per cent (on bottled scotch) and 170 per cent on bulk scotrch. This will drastically reduce the price of Scotch and make many consumers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and regular whisky, upgrade themselves to Scotch whisky.
Sunil Mehdiratta, secretary-general, International Spirits and Wines Association of India, informed TNS that it was difficult to determine the number of duty-free scotch whisky sales in the country. “But in the past one year, sale of scotch (including scotch bottled in India and duty paid scotch) has gone up from 7000 cases to 9000 cases, showing a 140 per cent rise. With the government allowing an increase in amount of scotch that an individual can carry from abroad and allowing the hotels to spend 5 per cent of foreign exchange earnings to buy imported scotch, the sales have gone up substantially,” he added.
Though no separate figures for sale of scotch in Punjab are readily available, trade pundits say that the state is a premium market because of the high paying capacity and social custom of living it up. In the past one year, sale of IMFL in Punjab has gone up by 49 per cent from 32.26 lakh cases in 2005-06 to 48.15 lakh cases in 2006-07. The sale of liquor in prestige whisky segment has gone up by 89 per cent in the past year (from 7.33 lakh cases in 2005-06, to 13.87 lakh cases in 2006-07), while that of regular whisky has shown a remarkable increase in liquor sales (from 29.33 lakh cases to 44.25 lakh cases).
It may be noted that Punjab boasts of the second highest per capita consumption of liquor (at 22.6 proof litres per person per year). The revenue collection from liquor in the past 10 years has increased from Rs 1143.51 crore in 1997 to over Rs 1600 crore in 2006-07.
posted by SikhsRus at 3:51 PM
3 Comments:
not like that .
all punjabi's aint lazy ,there might be few . there are lot of hard as well as smart working punjabi's too .
I think you are reading too much into this article. I see this as a good sign. My guess is the rise in liquor sales has more to do with the growth in the Punjab wedding industry, the growing middle class's ability to afford such luxuries, and as the article points out, the government cuts in customs duties. Punjab is full of hard working people, and their reputation as such remains intact. Admittedly, we Punjabi's like to let loose as well!
Sure Punjab is full of hardworking people (just as any other place is). But look what we are doing to ourselves. We have made our land and water toxic through the worst agricultural practices. We are killing female infants. we are becoming uneducated, narrow minded, castist. superstitious. Deep here even uses his caste surname while lauding the growth of the wedding industry. That wasteful practice which impoverishes our people. What are we doing to promote punjabi literature and poetry, sportsmanship. Why isn't honesty our biggest virtue? because we arent making an effort to inculcate positive values. Hard work and what you work for are bot important
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