India's first Indian winemaker and head of UB Wines, Abhay Kewadkar shares with IndianWine.com an overview of the Indian Wine industry - coming harvest, taxes, sales...

Grape Harvest 2009
The 2009 harvest in India, which will stretch from January-March in Maharashtra and March-April in Karnataka, is said to be the best ever. The production is expected to be 1.80 to 2.00 million cases, 30% to 40% higher than previous year.

New Wineries in the offing
Apart from UB Group entering the market, this year every big player in the market is said to increase the production. At least five new wineries of medium size, are likely to come up in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The Indian Wine industry training for Quality...
This year is also expected to be very special in the sense that wineries are said to modernize and upgrade their plant and equipment, which will ensure better and consistent quality.

More farmers and acreage to join the Indian Wine industry's fortunes, plus a big welcome to new entrant - Andhra Pradesh!
On the vineyards front, 2000 acres are expected to be added, mainly in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Some plantations are about to come up for the first time in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This could be a real boost to the wine industry in general.

Taxes are a concern: Karnataka, Maharashtra ( and Goa?)
On the taxes and duties front, the picture is quite disappointing. Karnataka is to levy additional taxes on the wines coming from across states and countries to the extent that MRP will go up by Rs.300/- per bottle. This is in retaliation to the existing policy in Maharashtra, worse still with Goa threatening to follow the same policy.

Looking upto Maharashtra
One can only hope that Maharashtra leads the way in removing such discriminatory laws, which will pave the way for others to follow. This is absolutely essential in order to have uniform taxes and labeling laws across the country.

Wine versus Spirits: The gap in sales is huge but things will improve :-)
The wine sales are hardly 1% of spirits sales. There is the potential for the wine industry to grow ten times over the next 10 years.