No Budweiser, Hoegaarden Beer for 3 Years as Delhi Govt Bans Maker

Budweiser, Stella Artois and Hoegaarden beer labels will be banned in Delhi for a period of three years.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: iStock)

The Delhi government on Tuesday, 30 July, banned the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev from the market for three years for allegedly evading taxes, news agency Reuters reported.

The report said that an investigation found that SABMiller, which was bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2016, used duplicate barcodes on its beer bottles for city retailers, allowing the company to pay lower taxes.

Budweiser, Stella Artois and Hoegaarden are the beers that'll be hurt due to this ban.

The order, dated 16 July, was quoted by Reuters as saying, “the barcodes were being duplicated by SABMiller and supplied to the retail outlets to evade payment of excise duty.”

The AAP government issued a second order last week, saying that AB InBev should be put on a blacklist for three years.

The Brewery told Reuters that the government’s allegations were related to the operations of SABMiller prior to its takeover.

“Integrity and ethics are part of our core values,” a company spokesperson said. “[We] look forward to presenting our views in full cooperation with the excise appellate process."

(With inputs from Reuters)