Government Proposes Fresh Cess on Cigarettes and Pan Masala as GST Compensation Ends

Business

December 1, 2025

The Centre is preparing to introduce a new set of levies on cigarettes, pan masala and gutkha as the GST compensation cess approaches its sunset period. The move aims to ensure that the overall tax burden on tobacco products remains unchanged once the existing cess framework winds down.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to place a fresh proposal before Parliament titled the Health Security National Security Cess Bill, 2025. Alongside this, the government will table an amendment to the Central Excise Act that would create room for higher duties on cigarette and tobacco manufacturers. Both proposals received cabinet clearance in the previous meeting, according to people aware of the deliberations.

Officials said the intent is straightforward. Once the compensation cess expires, there must be no drop in the effective tax rate on tobacco, a category viewed as critical for both public health and revenue. The new legislation will allow the government to impose a cess on manufacturing units and machines involved in the production of specified goods. The accompanying amendment is designed to adjust excise duties where required.

The explanation attached to the bill notes that the proceeds will strengthen resources for national security and public health spending. The Defence Ministry is already projecting an increase of nearly twenty percent in its next budget allocation as it pushes for modernisation across services.

India reworked its GST structure in September, moving to two primary slabs of five percent and eighteen percent. The earlier twenty eight percent category was replaced with a special rate of forty percent for items such as tobacco products, aerated drinks, large cars and personal aircraft. While the compensation cess was eliminated for most goods, it continued for tobacco, where rates ranged from one percent to two hundred ninety percent.

The cess was originally introduced to help states manage revenue losses during the shift to GST. It was supposed to end in 2022 but was extended until March 2026 so that all borrowings undertaken during the pandemic years could be repaid.

French Bloom Makes Limoux Debut, Anchoring Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Wine in Terroir

Beverages

SnackTeam

November 29, 2025

French Bloom, the French brand behind some of the world’s leading alcohol-free sparkling wines, has taken a historic step with the acquisition of a 25-hectare vineyard and winery in Limoux, in the Haute Vallée. Scheduled to become operational in September 2026, the estate will be the first in the world devoted exclusively to producing alcohol-free sparkling wine from grapes grown and vinified on-site.

Limoux, long recognized for its sparkling wine heritage, offers a combination of limestone and clay soils, cool nights, and a Mediterranean climate that French Bloom believes is ideal for producing base wines with depth and complexity. The company has invested in organic Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, harvested earlier than traditional practices to preserve acidity, and aged in new Burgundy barrels to maintain structure post-dealcoholization.

French Bloom’s co-founder Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger explained that the acquisition anchors the brand firmly in terroir, allowing the wines to express origin and identity—a distinction the non-alcoholic wine category has historically lacked. CEO Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger said the estate will also facilitate a parcellaire approach, producing cuvées tied to specific plots, providing a level of place-based authenticity uncommon in alcohol-free sparkling wines.

The Limoux estate will centralize all production stages, from grape cultivation and base wine crafting to dealcoholization and R&D. Hospitality elements are planned in phases, offering private tastings and transparency into the winemaking process.

French Bloom has positioned itself as a luxury non-alcoholic brand, with Le Blanc and Le Rosé retailing at $39 and $44 per bottle in the U.S., and its prestige cuvées priced up to $119. The brand is available in over 500 Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide and has strategic partnerships with events including Coachella, Roland Garros, and Formula 1.

With global non-alcoholic wine sales projected to surpass $30 billion by 2030, French Bloom’s Limoux estate signals a new era: non-alcoholic sparkling wines defined by complexity, provenance, and terroir, rather than what they lack.

Retailers See Sharp Rise in Black Friday Sales as Indian Shoppers Spend Big

Retail & Ecommerce

SnackTeam

November 29, 2025

India’s Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping window is shaping up to be one of the busiest retail periods of the year, with brands and marketplaces reporting a sharp rise in demand that began well before the official start of the discount weekend. Company executives say sales across categories are expected to grow between 20 and 25 percent over last year, signalling that the American-origin event is steadily finding a place in the country’s retail calendar.

Campaigns kicked off nearly a week in advance on platforms such as Tata CLiQ, Nykaa, Flipkart and Croma, along with manufacturers like Samsung, allowing retailers to tap into strong consumer sentiment that has held firm even a month after Diwali. Electronics chain Vijay Sales said it has already recorded a 20 to 25 percent jump over last year’s Black Friday numbers, calling the momentum a clear indicator of enthusiastic spending.

Retailers say the event is expanding beyond impulse buying. Mall operators report an uptick in planned purchases and a tilt toward premium products, alongside a rise in family outings. At Nexus Select Malls, footfall began climbing noticeably from the start of the week. The company said November typically slows down when Diwali arrives in October, but Black Friday has now begun to bridge that gap.

Brands across fashion, luggage, beauty and home goods are also reporting heightened activity. Urban Jungle, the premium line from Safari, said sales have risen to more than three times its usual weekly average.

Large-screen television models briefly ran out of stock on some platforms as demand outpaced seller estimates, a trend manufacturers attribute to the goods and services tax cut that helped revive the category. Retailers are using late-night hours, curated mall-wide offers and short-window flash deals to sustain traffic through Cyber Monday and the week that follows.

Swiggy Bolt Contributes Over 10% of Orders, Enhances Customer Loyalty Across India

Quick Commerce

SnackTeam

November 29, 2025

Swiggy’s rapid-delivery experiment is no longer a side bet. Bolt, the company’s 10-minute food delivery service introduced in October 2024, has moved quickly up the ranks and now accounts for more than a tenth of all orders placed on the platform. It is currently operational in over 700 cities, making it one of the most widespread fast-food delivery pilots attempted by any major Indian platform.

Rohit Kapoor, chief executive of Swiggy’s food marketplace business, said the service is benefiting from a shift in consumer expectations shaped by the rise of quick commerce. He noted that users increasingly want shorter wait times across categories and restaurants are beginning to build menus that suit the rapid-delivery format, which has strengthened the model’s adoption. Customers who enter Swiggy through Bolt also tend to stay longer, with the company recording stronger month-on-month retention for this segment.

Kapoor added that the service is not draining capital. Each delivery is currently profitable, he said, adding that Bolt is helping lift order frequency without putting pressure on costs. Affordability, he stressed, remains central to bringing new households into Swiggy’s ecosystem as competition intensifies in food and grocery delivery.

Speaking on the sidelines of an industry event, Kapoor outlined the broader growth view for the coming year. Swiggy is holding its forecast for Gross Order Value growth at 18 to 20 per cent annually, with the company focusing on consumer insights and product improvements to maintain momentum. He said the food delivery sector has transformed dramatically in a little over a decade, and understanding changing behaviour will be critical for the next phase of expansion.

Commenting on the newly notified Labour Codes, Kapoor said the framework offers welcome clarity for the sector and the company is waiting for additional specifics as regulators release further guidance.

Inside Meesho’s Big Market Moment With Vidit Aatrey And Sanjeev Barnwal Leading A 5.74 Billion Dollar IPO And Early Investors Cashing In

Quick Commerce

SnackTeam

November 29, 2025

Meesho’s long awaited public debut has finally taken a clear shape, and the numbers are already turning heads across the startup world. The company has fixed its price band at Rs 103 to 111, placing its valuation at about 5.74 billion dollars. For a business that began as a small experiment to help home-grown sellers earn online, this moment marks a massive milestone.

The biggest beneficiaries of this move are the company’s earliest believers. Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners, both of whom backed Meesho when the journey was still uncertain, are sitting on very large paper gains. Their early confidence in the company’s asset-light model and its aggressive push into value ecommerce now looks well rewarded.

What has drawn even more attention is the value of the founders’ combined holding. Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, who built Meesho from a single room and a limited laptop budget, now hold shares worth about Rs 8,750 crore at the upper end of the price band. It is one of the biggest value-creation stories in the Indian consumer internet space in recent years.

The IPO opens on December 3. A notable detail is that the offer for sale component has been trimmed. Investors familiar with the company say this reflects an intention to keep the core leadership and key early shareholders closely tied to the future growth of the business. Market watchers are expecting strong interest from retail and institutional investors who want exposure to India’s fast growing commerce sector.

Meesho’s public listing will not only test investor appetite but will also serve as a signal for the broader startup ecosystem. A successful debut could lift sentiment and encourage more companies to consider the public markets in the coming year.

The Bear House Enters Global Market With First International Store in Dubai

Retail & Ecommerce

SnackTeam

November 29, 2025

Indian menswear label The Bear House has taken its first concrete step into global retail with the launch of a store at Al Ghurair Centre in Dubai, marking the brand’s international debut. The outlet spans roughly eleven hundred square feet and signals the start of an expansion strategy aimed at building a meaningful presence in overseas markets.

The Bengaluru-born brand, founded in 2017 by Tanvi and Harsh Somaiya, has spent the last several years cultivating a strong domestic base with a style vocabulary shaped by European fashion cues. That combination of minimal tailoring, modern silhouettes and consistent product quality has helped it scale across online marketplaces and physical stores in several Indian cities.

Dubai will now serve as the first test market for its global ambitions. The new store carries forward the label’s visual language with a sharply contoured façade, curated display elements and signature bear motifs that have become part of its identity. The launch has been executed in partnership with Omnis Group, a UAE retail operator known for introducing emerging fashion brands across the Middle East.

Akarsh Gautam, who leads Omnis Group, noted that the partnership is built around capturing young, design-conscious shoppers in the region. He said The Bear House fits well within the company’s portfolio of contemporary brands that emphasise authenticity and craftsmanship.

Within India, The Bear House continues to deepen its reach in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh, supported by a strong presence on Myntra, Ajio, Amazon, Flipkart and Tata Cliq. Its appearance on the fourth season of Shark Tank India also gave it wider visibility among urban consumers and helped sharpen its brand story.

With the Dubai store now operational, the company is preparing for additional locations across Abu Dhabi and select European markets as it moves from a homegrown label to a global name.

Amazon and Flipkart Push Deeper Into Lending, Turning Up the Heat on Traditional Banks

E-Commerce

SnackTeam

November 28, 2025

Amazon and Flipkart are widening their ambitions in India’s financial services landscape, and this time the focus is squarely on lending products aimed at small businesses and everyday consumers. The move comes at a moment when digitally active merchants, especially those based outside major metros, are looking for quicker credit options than what conventional banks usually offer.

Amazon has been preparing for this expansion ever since it acquired Axio, a non-bank lender known for its consumer finance products. With the deal finally integrated, the company is ready to restart small-business loans on its platform. Along with credit, Amazon plans to roll out cash-management solutions that help merchants manage daily inflows and payouts. People tracking the development say the company has seen rising demand for short-tenure credit from sellers who rely heavily on online orders and need predictable access to working capital.

Flipkart, meanwhile, has been sharpening its own set of lending tools as part of a broader push to strengthen loyalty among its marketplace sellers. The company has been testing new consumer-focused loan offerings that allow shoppers to access instant, small-ticket credit during checkout. This is expected to help Flipkart improve conversions at a time when e-commerce growth is being driven by Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

For India’s banks, the growing presence of these tech giants in lending is not a small development. Both companies sit on massive pools of consumer and merchant data, giving them an advantage in assessing risk more precisely. As Amazon and Flipkart broaden their reach, the line between e-commerce marketplace and financial service provider continues to blur, signalling the start of a more competitive phase for India’s digital lending market.

Maharashtra’s Liquor Tax Policy Sparks Legal Battle With Diageo and Pernod Ricard

Beverages

SnackTeam

November 28, 2025

Diageo and Pernod Ricard’s industry body has taken the Maharashtra government to court, challenging a sweeping change in the state’s excise structure that has sharply raised taxes on popular affordable whisky and created a lower-tax bracket that excludes companies with foreign investment. The petition, filed by the International Spirits and Wines Association of India, will be heard by the Bombay High Court on 9 December.

The dispute centres on a policy introduced between June and August that created a new category called Maharashtra Made Liquor. Only manufacturers headquartered within the state and operating without any foreign investment are eligible. Brands in this category attract a 270 percent tax, which is significantly lower than the 450 percent levy now imposed on competing labels from global groups and other Indian producers whose cost of production falls below 260 rupees a litre.

The tax jump has hit some of India’s best-known mass-market whiskies. Diageo’s McDowell’s, Pernod Ricard’s Royal Stag, Tilaknagar Industries’ Imperial Blue and Officer’s Choice from Allied Blenders have all seen their margins squeezed and retail prices rise in a market that accounts for around seven percent of India’s premium spirits consumption. Mumbai alone remains one of the most lucrative urban centres for multinational liquor companies.

Industry executives say the policy has led to an immediate contraction in sales. According to the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, volumes of affected brands have fallen between thirty-five and forty percent since the new taxes came into effect. The association argues the policy effectively creates trade barriers and gives select local manufacturers an unfair head start.

The state government has defended its strategy, saying it expects the revised structure to encourage fresh investment, expand capacity at existing plants and bring in nearly one and a half billion dollars in additional annual revenue. Global spirits makers, meanwhile, continue to grapple with regulatory and financial challenges in other states, including overdue payments in Telangana and tighter scrutiny on advertising and competition practices.

$40 Million on the Table: Why FarMart’s Rapid Growth Has Pulled in Heavyweights for Its Largest Funding Round Yet

Business

SnackTeam

November 28, 2025

FarMart, the B2B food supply startup that has quietly strengthened its presence across India’s agri-value chain, is now closing in on a major fundraise expected to land between $35 million and $40 million. The talks, led by both new and existing backers, have been underway for several months, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Founded on the idea of helping restaurants, retailers, and food businesses source produce more efficiently, FarMart has built a network that now spans thousands of farmers and suppliers. The new infusion, if sealed at the expected size, would mark one of the company’s largest financing rounds so far.

One person aware of the discussions said that early conversations hinted at a much larger round, but valuations and market conditions have pushed the likely number into the upper-thirty-million range. The company has not commented publicly, and those involved in the deal have kept details under wraps as paperwork is still being finalised.

FarMart’s growth over the last year has caught attention in the venture community. The startup has expanded its distribution footprint, improved turnaround times for bulk sourcing, and reported stronger demand from food processors and institutional buyers. Investors tracking the sector believe FarMart is positioning itself to capture a meaningful share of India’s fast-modernising agricultural supply chain.

If the deal goes through as expected, the fresh capital will allow the company to deepen tech capabilities, add more supply partners, and widen operations across underserved markets. With food supply becoming an increasingly data-driven and logistics-heavy sector, FarMart’s next phase of growth will be watched closely by both rivals and investors who see agriculture as one of India’s biggest untapped opportunities.

Burger King Wins Major Relief as US Judge Rejects Nationwide Whopper Size Lawsuit

Food

SnackTeam

November 28, 2025

A federal court in the United States has halted efforts to bring a nationwide class action against Burger King, narrowing the scope of a lawsuit that accused the fast-food chain of overstating the size of its signature Whopper burger in advertisements. The ruling, issued by Judge Roy Altman in Miami, sharply limits the damages the plaintiffs can pursue and removes the possibility of a unified national case.

The complaint had been filed by 19 customers from 13 states who argued that Burger King’s promotional images exaggerated the size of several menu items. They said the Whopper, in particular, was presented as significantly larger than the product served in restaurants, with patties that appeared to spill out of the bun and look more substantial than reality. The plaintiffs described these depictions as misleading and material to consumer decision-making.

Judge Altman, in his order, said the case could not move forward as a single nationwide class because consumer protection laws vary widely from state to state. He added that proving harm would require an examination of each customer’s individual experience, including what photograph they saw, where they purchased the burger, when they bought it and the amount they paid. This, he said, made a collective proceeding unworkable.

Altman noted that even if the customers believed their burgers were smaller than advertised, the core issue remained highly individualized. Prices for Burger King menu items have also fluctuated over time, further complicating efforts to treat the group as a single class.

Burger King welcomed the decision and reiterated that its advertising portrays the same flame-grilled patties served in its restaurants. Similar lawsuits have surfaced in recent years, including a case in New York involving McDonald’s and Wendy’s, which was dismissed in 2023.

Burger King is owned by Restaurant Brands International, which also operates Tim Hortons, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs.

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