'Ease non-tariff curbs to ensure alcohol enters the market freely'

New Delhi: The Scotch Whisky Association has requested New Delhi to reconsider the sampling and testing requirement for imported Scotch whiskies in India, as there is no such condition for Indian alcohol drinks exported to the UK. The UK-India free trade agreement that became effective in July has halved tariffs on Scotch whisky and gin in India. But Food Safety & Standards Authority of India regulations require sampling and testing of the imports under its Food Import Clearance System, which is integrated with customs portal.

"The spirit of the free trade agreement is twofold-tariffs and regulations that ensure businesses operate a bit more freely," Ian Duddy, the association's international director, told ET in an interview. "Even with tariffs reduced, the products still get sampled and tested," he said, but added: "Obviously, alcohol and all food products need to be regulated. We're not arguing against that."

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Duddy, in India as part of a visiting UK government trade delegation, termed the association's dialogue with Fssai as more about "reciprocity".

"Scotch is produced to very, very high standards in Scotland and comes from a very secure supply chain. So, we don't think it needs to be regularly sampled and tested," he said. "It would be great to have that recognised in India by the Fssai and reduce non-tariff barriers to ensure that products can enter markets freely."

Import Duties

The UK-India FTA, which came into force on July 15, has reduced import duties on Scotch whisky and gin in India to 75% from 150%. The duties are proposed to be cut to 40% over 10 years.

India is seen as Scotch whisky's largest market by volume. Imports amounted to 286 million in value in 2025.

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Duddy attributed growing demand for Scotch in India to the country becoming wealthier, its expanding middle class and rising aspiration for premium products. "The middle class is expanding in the US and Europe; those markets are good, but they're fairly stable. They're not growth markets like India," he said.

The Scotch Whisky Association represents more than 90 spirits makers, including Diageo, Pernod Ricard and William Grant & Sons. The free trade agreement has led to a 10-15% reduction in retail prices for bottled-in-origin Scotch labels such as Johnnie Walker, Chivas and The Glenlivet in states such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and Haryana.

Multiple and high state-level taxation on alcohol is a challenge companies face in India, Duddy said. "If you look at Indian exporters to the UK, they have one economic market, one set of excise taxes, one set of regulations. Obviously, India is a much bigger country; it's quite complex but that is a lot to navigate," he said.

Indian tax authorities, meanwhile, have started investigations on large players such as Diageo or Pernod Ricard over alleged misclassification of bulk Scotch concentrates to claim lower FTA duty rates.