TS liquor sale touch new high

Liquor sales in Telangana have broken all previous records and touched a new high in 2017-18. Though there are about 40 days left in the fiscal year, liquor sales worth `15,000 crore have already been recorded. The government expects to make another `2,000 crore by March 31.

Total sales are expected to touch `17,000 crore, the highest yet. Last year, liquor sales amounted to `14,1784 crore. There has been a 12 per cent increase in sales over the past year. These record-breaking liquor sales have come to the government’s rescue at a time when state revenues have taken a hit due to demonetisation and introduction of the GST.

As per the statistics available with the excise department, over 2.66 crore cases of liquor and over 3.7 crore cartons of beer have been sold this year, as of February 15, 2018.

Both of these put together have generated `15,092 crore for the state.

One case of liquor contains 8.64 litres of alcohol and one carton of beer contains 7.8 litres of alcohol. Last year, 2.71 crore cases of liquor and 3.36 crore cases of beer were sold.

Officials of the excise department attribute the increase in sales to the elimination of gudumba (illicit liquor). Gudumba consumers in the state had to shift to the consumption of liquor supplied by the excise department.

“The excise revenues are in line with our expectations. The department has been successful at curbing the production of illicit liquor over the past two years because of which liquor sales have increased,” said Somesh Kumar, commissioner of the excise department.

The state government earned a record `12,143.88 crore through the sale of liquor in the 2015-16 financial year, achieving a growth rate of 18.61 per cent as compared to the previous year. In 2014-15, it earned `10,238.78 crore.