All India Distillers’ Association

In 1953, an all India body of distillers was constituted which was baptized All India Distillers’ Association. During the Intervening four decades this association has not only grown in size but has also widened its sphere of activity. At the time of its birth, the association had a membership of only fifteen whereas the fraternity has now swelled to close to two hundred. The constituents of the association control more than 80% of the total distillation capacity of the country. Besides, ten state associations have also been constituted in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, which are all affiliated to the parent body. It is indeed a matter for gratification that ours is the sole representative body of the alcohol industry and distilleries., in the country.

The Association has been carrying out a pioneering work with regard to catering to interest of the alcohol industry and has gone from strength to strength through out  all these 54 years, to the extent that it is now a force to reckon with as far as the alcohol and distillery industry is concerned. The advent of Ethanol as an ideal blend for admixture with Motor fuel/ petrol has provided further boost to importance of this industry and the association,  in the country’s industrial scenario. We visualize a bright future for the industry and a much stronger association in very near future.

AIDA is the leading business support organizations for the alcohol & liquor industry in India and maintains the lead as the proactive business solution provider through continuous interaction at the constituent members level    and various government agencies level. It is therefore now the largest and the oldest apex organization of Indian Alcohol Industry which stands for quality, industry – Government- Society partnership and to enhance the quality and productivity of the distillery/ alcohol industry on the whole. AIDA today espouses the shared vision of the Alcohol / Distillery industry in the country and speaks directly or indirectly for the entire industry.

About AIDA

The AIDA  secretariat is located at Nehru Place, New Delhi having its own premises with all modern communication facilities like telephone, Email, E-links    and other combined facilities.

It is located in at one of the busiest Commercial complexes of New Delhi with all infrastructural setup available at the site itself. The office premises is under renovation, at present , and when complete it will provide a modern and more spacious and pleasant atmosphere for carrying out its secretarial activities in more efficient and prompt fashion.

About the Industry

The use of alcohol as drink is an age-old story in India and it appears that the technique for fermentation and distillation was available even in the Vedic times. It was then called “Somarasa” and was used not only for its invigorating effect but also in worship.  To date, not only has the consumption of alcohol been continued but it is an integral part of the Ayurvedic system of medicine.

The First distillery in the country was set up at Crwnpore (Kanpur) in 1805 by Carew & Co. Ltd., for manufacture of Rum for the army. The technique of fermentation, distillation and blending of alcoholic beverages was developed in our country on the lines of practices adopted overseas particularly in Europe.

The distillery industry today consists broadly of two parts, one potable liquor and the industrial alcohol. The potable distillery producing   Indian Made Foreign Liquor and Country Liquor has a steady but limited demand with a growth rate of about 7-10 per cent per annum. The industrial alcohol industryon the other hand, is showing a declining trend because of high price of Molasses which is invariantly used as substrate for production of alcohol. The alcohol produced is now being utilized in the ratio of approximately 52 per cent for potable and the balance 48 percent for industrial use. Over the years the potable liquor industry has shown remarkable results in the production of quality spirits. Indian Liquor industry is today exporting a sizable quantity of India Liquor products to other countries.

The utilization of Ethyl alcohol or Ethanol, now popularly known as alcohol, for industrial use is a recent phenomenon and its importance came into being towards the end of the second world war. With protection being granted to the sugar Industry in 1932, a large number of  sugar factories wee established in the country, particularly in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh where irrigation facilities existed for cultivation of sugarcane. This increase resulted in accumulation of molasses, which resultantly, caused unmanageable environmental problems. At that time the demand for molasses was almost insignificant and the sugar mills had to incur some expenditure on removal of this by product i.e. molasses. For resolving these problems a joint committee of U.P. and Bihar was constituted to explore the possibilities of developing alcohol based industries  for the purpose of utilization of molasses. The Committee in its report recommended the establishment of distilleries for production of alcohol, utilizing molasses as substrate. They also recommended that alcohol produced by the distilleries should be admixed with petrol, to supplement motor fuel. The production of alcohol did not only help in solving the problems of disposal of molasses but it also filled up the gape in the demand and supply of motor spirit. As a substantial quantity of alcohol after meeting its requirement for manufacture of gasohol alcohol was diverted for production of alcohol based chemicals in different parts of the country. The utilization of alcohol for this purpose progressed steadily and a substantial quantity of alcohol produced in the country is now being utilized for manufacture of solvents and intermediates. Till a few years back a little more that 50% alcohol produced in the country was being utilized for production of alcohol based chemical but after the decontrol of molasses in the year 1993 the utilization of alcohol for production of chemical, dye-stuff ,synthetic rubber, polymers and plastics etc. has received a setback.

However, with the advent of ethanol blending with petrol/ motor fuel, the requirement of ethanol/ industrial alcohol has increased manifold in the country to the extent that in case 5 % blending, if made mandatory all over the country, the sugar factory molasses available in the country shall not prove to be adequate for meeting the total requirement of ethanol including its use for potable liquors and other industrial uses.The alcohol industry has a total installed capacity of 3540 million litres of alcohol in a year. However, the licenced capacity is concentrated in three states of U.P., Maharashtra and Tamilnadu . With the announcement of the Government of  India to make blending of motor fuel with ethanol upto 5 % mandatory, a substantial increase in the requirement as well as production capacity of ethanol is expected and a large number of ethanol distilleries are on the anvil of installation.

The ethanol is being mixed with petrol upto 20%  to 25 % in Brazil and nearly 30 -40 % in USA particularly in the state of California. India therefore has to immediately look for other sources of feedstock for production of ethanol for increasing the total production and meeting the requirement of ethanol blending with petrol, coupled with further increase the availability of molasses through increase in sugar cane production and sugar mills capacity.