Millennials eager to raise a toast at 21

NEW DELHI: A majority 46% alcohol consumers in India want a uniform legal drinking age (LDA) of 21 years and above across the country, says a new study by WPP Group-owned research company Kantar and digital marketing research firm NFX. As of now, different states have different LDAs, depending on statelevel policies.
“A person’s ability to consume alcohol at a certain age cannot change by geography. Also, at 18, people have the right to vote, marry, join the army while their choice to drink is denied until 25 in some states,” said NFX Digital VP Amitesh Mullick.

While in Delhi and Haryana the legal age to drink is 25 years and above, in Uttar Pradesh next door it is 21 years and above. Likewise, in Maharashtra it is 21 years for beer and wine, and 25 years for other drinks. In neighbouring Goa, however, the LDA is 18 years. “Respondents said lack of uniformity in the legal drinking age across states makes them indulge in underage drinking and is a deterrent for tourists who cannot keep track of changes in permissible age when traveling from one state to another,” Mullick said.

Differential legal drinking age implies consumers have to travel to neighboring states to get alcohol, and they are left confused and bogged down with keeping track of the variations from one state to another.

The ongoing economic slump, lack of liquidity in the market and fluctuating statelevel excise policies have led to liquor sales slowing down to under 3% this calendar year so far, compared to 10% last year.

“A 21-year-old can legally drink in Noida, but the same consumer can’t drive to Delhi and legally drink because he’s under 25 years old. Consumers want this changed,” the study added.

Enlisting the reasons why respondents wanted a uniform drinking age, the report said it would enable them to be aware of their limits of responsible alcohol consumption. It indicated that a growing number of Indian consumers are willing to indulge in responsible drinking provided certain barriers are addressed. These, they said, needs to include an adequate legal, retail and onpremise universe, better awareness of responsible behaviour, increased sociocultural acceptance of responsible drinking and the freedom to choose consumption of alcohol with flexible timings, uniform pricing and wider onpremise choice.

The study, done on behalf of the National Restaurants Association of India to address barriers of responsible drinking, said it found out that responsible drinking has gained “sufficient ground” among millennials.

However, the millennials urged the need for an outreach by concerned authorities that promote awareness of responsible alcohol consumption.