The next time you are out for a drink, ordering a Jack Daniel’s, Chivas Regal or a Johnnie Walker Black might just set you back by more than you bargained for. This is in line with the Delhi Excise changing local taxation on imported brands to 30 per cent of the MRP. Though the notification is not formally out, a lot of hotels are gulping down the news hard.

Debjeet Banerjee, Associate Director, Food and Beverage, Park Hotel, said, “All hotels have not received the notification yet. We are expecting it by tomorrow. Previously, we used to pay Rs 150 as vent fee (government tax), which was a flat fee on wines. There was also a flat fee of Rs 300 on imported liquor bottles. With the new rules in place, we may have to shell out Rs 800 to Rs 900 more per bottle. For bottles of wine and champagne costing more than Rs 2,000, the duty may go up to Rs 600 plus 20 per cent of the MRP.”

It is, however, not just the hotels who will be badly hit. Saurabh Khanijo, owner of restaurants like Sartoria, Kylin and Ivy, feels hotels have it easier than stand-alone restaurants. “The hotels have duty-free licences, so it shouldn’t be such a problem. The restaurants across the city will be the ones feeling the pinch,” he says.

Khanijo says: “Most foreign brands now have Indian manufacturers. It is the prices of connoisseur’s drinks — wine, champagne and the single malts — that will definitely shoot up.”

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