India’s Beer Consumption Remains Among Lowest In Asia

Indians are among the lowest beer drinkers in Asia and they have fallen a notch lower.

Per capita consumption of beer fell by a litre over the preceding year in 2018, according to Motilal Oswal Securities report quoting findings by Danish beermaker Carlsberg. At two litres per capita, India now ranks below Nepal.

Obstacles to licensing, high taxes and advertising bans with limited opportunities for multinational brewers to expand results in relatively lower consumption, said a report by BMI Research, a research subsidiary of Fitch Ratings. Certain dry states and preference for spirits are other hurdles, the research firm said.

But it’s optimistic that an increasingly young India will slowly take to beer in the long term.