The Puducherry government will grant fresh licenses to Blending and Bottling units (BBU) or distillery units of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the territory, which comes after two decades. Puducherry Excise department has called for applications on May 18 and no last date for submitting of application has been given.

The circular issued by the deputy commissioner, excise of Puducherry, T. Sudhakar said, "A minimum experience of five years in the field of operation of distillery or blending and bottling plant for the production of liquor anywhere in the country is required and he should have manufactured a minimum volume of 3 lakh cases per year for the last three years."

According to the norms of the excise department of the UT, the annual turnover must be Rs 100 crore and net worth should be more than Rs 50 crore. At least four acres of land are required for a blending and bottling unit.

The circular of the excise department wants the potential applicants to submit a detailed project report (DPR), including information on the premises and permanent apparatus, building plan, water treatment plant, capital to be invested, approximate production capacity, and employment to be generated.

The applicants, who are eligible, will get in-principle approval to set up BBUs and the plant can be set up after necessary clearances from the concerned departments.

However, sources in the industry said with the new distilleries can cause the depletion of groundwater. According to the industry sources, presently there are five BBUs that produce 85 lakh cases per annum, but the sales are only 30 lakh cases in a year. Hence, there was no need to have more distilleries, they said.