Non-alcoholic beer in India, in sourced, quotable facts: what the law says, what is in the can, and what the math looks like.
Last updated 2026-09-03 · Journalists and researchers may reuse any figure on this page with credit to SOMA Brewing Company.
India's food regulator, the FSSAI, defines a non-alcoholic counterpart of an alcoholic beverage as one with alcohol content at or below 0.5% ABV that meets the other standards of the beverage it is modelled on. The same 0.5% threshold is used in the United States and most of Europe.
Source: FSSAI — Food Safety and Standards regulationsSection 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 defines the offence as driving with alcohol exceeding 30 mg per 100 ml of blood, detected by breath analyser or other test. The law defines the offence by blood alcohol content, not by beverage category. A 500 ml can at under 0.5% ABV contains at most about 2.5 ml of ethanol. This is factual information, not legal advice, and none of it applies to anyone who has consumed actual alcohol.
Source: Section 185, Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Indian Kanoon)A beverage at or under 0.5% ABV is regulated as a food product under FSSAI rules rather than as liquor under state excise law. In Karnataka, that means no excise licence is required to stock or serve it. Rules are state subjects: venues outside Karnataka should confirm their own state's position.
Source: FSSAI category frameworkA dry day is an instruction from a state excise department to licensed alcohol sellers. A beverage sold under FSSAI food rules at or under 0.5% ABV is not an excise-licensed product, so dry-day restrictions on alcohol sales do not cover it. Dry-day calendars vary by state and by year.
Source: State excise dry-day framework (overview)Per 500 ml can, from the same data that feeds our labels and our nutrition page. Zero added sugar across the lineup.
| Beer | Style | Calories | Carbs | ABV | Launch price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOMA Lager “Sundowner” | Crisp Lager | 63 kcal | 11 g | <0.5% ABV | ₹199 (MRP ₹249) |
| SOMA IPA “Juice Riot” | Juicy IPA | 92 kcal | 17 g | <0.5% ABV | ₹199 (MRP ₹249) |
| SOMA Belgian Wit “Sunday Wit” | Belgian Wit | 77 kcal | 14 g | <0.5% ABV | ₹199 (MRP ₹249) |
| SOMA Stout “Dark Arts” | Roasty Stout | 99 kcal | 20 g | <0.5% ABV | ₹199 (MRP ₹249) |
For scale: A typical 5% lager has 140-180 kcal per 330ml; most beer calories come from alcohol. That works out to roughly 210–270 kcal per 500 ml — two to four times the calorie line of any beer in the table above.
Four rounds of a typical 5% lager carry roughly 850–1,080 kcal of beer alone, most of it from alcohol. Four rounds of SOMA Lager carry 252 kcal — and the difference in how the next morning goes is the entire product. Interactive version with your own inputs: Hangover Math.
Assumptions: typical-lager range from the nutrition note above, scaled to four 500 ml servings; SOMA figures from the table above. Calories and money only — no physiological claims.
Global sales of non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits reached nearly USD 20 billion in 2023 — double the 2019 figure — and IWSR forecasts a further USD 4 billion of incremental growth by 2028, with the non-alcoholic segment growing at a 7% compound annual rate between 2024 and 2028. Source: IWSR figures, cited by Sustainalytics
For independent reporting on the Indian side of the trend, see ThePrint’s ground report on India’s sober revolution.
We do not quote India-specific market sizing here: the public versions of those estimates sit behind paywalled previews, and this page only carries figures you can verify at the link beside them.
Every figure here is either a primary-source legal fact (linked inline) or SOMA’s own published product data. Journalists, researchers, and creators may reuse any figure with credit to SOMA Brewing Company. For interviews, imagery, or anything not answered here: hello@getsoma.store — or see the press kit.
SOMA Brewing Companyis a non-alcoholic craft beer brand in Bangalore. Non-alcoholic · <0.5% ABV · 18+.