Spirits maker Diageo is 'positive' about the opportunity in India

Spirits maker Diageo India is "positive" about the opportunity in India and advocated for an inflation-indexed price increase and a harmonised tax structure for the liquor sector in the country.

Diageo India MD & CEO Hina Nagarajan said there are frequent changes at the policy level by the state governments.

"Our desired state would be if we could get inflation-indexed price increases. Even an industry which is quite regulated like pharmaceuticals gets that, so our request to the government is please look at some of these models," said Nagarajan.

She is "optimistic" about this and said "hopefully" it will come as they are working along with the governments on this proposal.

The British spirits maker is "positive" about the opportunity as a whole in India and advocated for placing alcohol under the GST regime, which would have collateral benefits of shutting down the illicit liquor trade, making it a far more controlled industry even for the state governments.

She said ...