Number Theory: Bourbon duty cut may not be a bottoms-up move

High on optics, low in immediate impact. That is the effect of the recent move by India to reduce tariff on bourbon whisky imports from all countries, from 150% to 100%, after US President Donald Trump criticised India’s “unfair” tariffs on American goods, particularly in the alcohol sector. Indians lean towards whisky, along with beer, and the share of bourbon whisky — of which the US is a major producer — in the overall Indian alcohol pie is very small.