Old Monk maker tells Bombay High Court FSSAI label dispute has cost it over Rs 500 crore

The maker of Old Monk rum has told the Bombay High Court that restrictions on its sales in Maharashtra have caused it losses of more than Rs 500 crore, while the food regulator says sales can resume only if the product is labeled rum-like instead of rum. The company is Mohan Rocky Springwater Pvt Ltd, according to the Free Press Journal and Mathrubhumi.

The company's claims

Senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond, appearing for the company at a hearing on Monday, October 12, said the restriction has caused corporate losses above Rs 500 crore and cost the Maharashtra excise department about Rs 350 crore in revenue. Mathrubhumi adds that the company says about 300 workers have been left idle. Both reports present these figures as the company's submissions, not as findings of the court, and the Free Press Journal notes that the state's own figure for lost excise revenue is not given. The company says the product is sold normally in other states, according to Mathrubhumi and Aaj Tak.

The regulator's objection

The Free Press Journal reports that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) inspected the company's Khopoli plant in Maharashtra and objected to the product's composition and labeling. Mathrubhumi reports that FSSAI says rum flavoring added to a neutral spirit can obscure the spirit's actual composition and may mislead consumers, so the product should be labeled as flavored or as a spirit with rum flavor. FSSAI also objects to age descriptions such as 7 years old blended and very old vatted, which it says do not comply with labeling rules.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, for the authorities, told the court that sales would be allowed if the manufacturer changes the description from rum to rum-like, according to the Free Press Journal.

The company's response

The company argues that approved additives are permitted in neutral spirit and that competing brands use similar processes without comparable action, the Free Press Journal reports. It says the same formulation is sold from its other Maharashtra units. The company submitted revised draft labels that dropped the age descriptions and prominently disclosed added flavor, but the regulator did not approve them, and talks failed, according to Mathrubhumi.

Court timeline

The reports say a bench of Chief Justice Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna earlier declined an immediate interim stay on the prohibition order. The matter is next listed for October 23, which Mathrubhumi and Aaj Tak describe as a final hearing on the merits.

What the reports do not say

None of the three reports says whether the plant itself has stopped operating, and none gives a response from the Maharashtra government to the loss figures.