Will India face a beer shortage soon?

India’s beer industry, which is facing a shortage of aluminium cans, has asked the government for a relaxation in its rules so breweries can gain supplies from abroad. But will it be enough to avoid a beer drought?

According to the Brewers Association of India (BAI), which represents the three major beer manufacturers – AB InBev, Carlsberg, and United Breweries –- the sector is anticipating an annual shortage of 120-130 million units of 500ml cans, which represents around 20% of India’s total beer sales.

Local can manufacturers already at capacity

Domestically, aluminium can suppliers such as Ball Beverage Packaging India and Can-Pack India, have revealed that they have already reached maximum capacity at their sites and will not be able to increase supplies for at least 6-12 months unless production lines are added or expanded in some way.

The Quality Control Order (QCO) saw the government bring in aluminium cans under mandatory BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification from 1 April, 2025. Despite this move to assist with short-term supply constraints for beer packaging industries in the country, the supply chain issues have rumbled on.

At present, due to the QCO, the beer industry cannot import cans from foreign vendors as BIS certification can take many months to process. To avoid a shortage in beer supply, local reports have outlined that the BAI has lobbied the government for a “short-term regulatory relaxation” of its QCOs to ensure uninterrupted supplies from other countries.

Sector asks for a ‘relaxation’ of rules

In a letter to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the BAI has requested that the implementation of the QCO, which currently mandates BIS certification for imported aluminium cans, be postponed until 1 April 2026 to give domestic suppliers time to develop capacity to supply local breweries.

The government had already granted suppliers an extension until 30 September to import aluminium cans without BIS certification but, according to BAI, this is not enough time for breweries to import cans into the country.

Over in the US, brewers are braced for canning costs to rise with many craft brewers being forced to reconsider how to package beers now that tariffs have been placed on aluminium.

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