Severe shortage of aluminum cans
The domestic beer industry, which is facing acute shortage of aluminum cans, has urged the government to provide short-term regulatory relaxation in quality control norms (QCO) to ensure uninterrupted supplies from abroad. According to the Brewers Association of India (BAI), the beer industry is facing an annual shortfall of 12-13 crore units of 500 ml cans, which is about 20 percent of the total beer sales in the country. Due to this, there is a possibility of reduction in government revenue by about Rs 1,300 crore.
Bad news came from here
Aluminum cans were brought under the purview of mandatory BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification from April 1, 2025, through a Quality Control Order (QCO) by the government. This has led to short-term supply problems for the beer as well as other beverage packaging industry in the country. Leading aluminum can suppliers Ball Beverage Packaging India and Can-Pak India have already reached maximum domestic capacity at their manufacturing units in India. These companies say that they will not be able to increase supplies for at least 6-12 months until new production lines are added.
Additionally, due to QCO, the beer industry cannot import cans from foreign vendors as BIS certification can take several months, creating a risk of supply disruption. BAI, which represents three major beer manufacturers – AB InBev, Carlsberg and United Breweries – has asked the government to relax the QCO norms for a year. Their total share in beer sold in India is 85 percent.
Recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of United Breweries Limited (UBL) has also raised this issue in an interview. For the industry, the challenge is inflation over supply, especially of packaging material, as there is a shortage of cans in India. In a letter to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, BAI has requested that the implementation of the QCO mandating BIS certification for imported aluminum cans be postponed to April 1, 2026 to allow domestic suppliers adequate time to develop local manufacturing capacity.
Beer companies have this option
This expansion will provide sufficient time to domestic suppliers to develop local manufacturing capacity. The government has given extension to suppliers till September 30, 2025 for importing aluminum cans without BIS certification. However, according to BAI, this is not enough to import cans into the country.
BAI has also requested that international suppliers who have submitted their BIS certification applications along with the required documents, be allowed to import cans without BIS certification till their applications are processed. BAI Director General Vinod Giri said in the letter that this arrangement will avoid business disruption while maintaining regulatory oversight.