AB InBev faces ban by Delhi Govt.
India’s capital city has banned the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, from selling its products in the key New Delhi market for 3 years for allegedly evading local taxes, government orders seen by Reuters showed.
The city government orders from earlier this month followed a 3-year investigation which found that beer maker SABMiller – acquired by AB InBev in 2016 for around $100 billion – used duplicate barcodes on its beer bottles supplied to city retailers that year, allowing it to pay lower levies.
AB InBev said in a statement it denied the Delhi government’s allegations and would appeal against the order.
“The barcodes were being duplicated by SABMiller and supplied to the retail outlets to evade payment of excise duty,” said a 19-page order, dated July 16, which detailed the findings.