- Telangana tops
- Karnataka does roaring business
- Delhi does ₹400 crore business
Cheers to 2025! Tipplers across the country have given the liquor trade a good enough reason to be cheerful. Liquor sales have hit the roof, just in the two days as revelers rang in the new year. The southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala have shown robust sales. According to estimates, Telangana has broken all records with liquor sales of over ₹800 crores on December 30 and 31, eight times the usual daily sales of around ₹100 crores.
The Telangana State Beverages Corporation Ltd (TSBCL) sources have told some media that last year the sales were around ₹700 crores on December 30 and 31 and this year the increase was phenomenal. Telangana registered liquor sales of about ₹402 crores on December 30 and ₹401 crores on New Year’s Eve night as revelers flocked to bars and restaurants; liquor stores and enjoyed at home drinking. There were hundreds of parties that rocked the city of Hyderabad which had the most sales, followed by surrounding districts of Ranga Reddy and Medchal.
Telangana has overtaken its previous record of liquor sales in the month of December. This year the government raked in a revenue of ₹3,523.16 crores, compared to ₹2,764 crores in December 2023. With Sankranti round the corner, excise officials expect the momentum to continue, though not on the same scale as year-end celebrations. The Telangana government has set a target of ₹45,000 crores from excise for 2024-25.
As per media reports, Uttar Pradesh came next in sales, having done a business of nearly ₹600 crores, breaking its previous record.
Karnataka rakes in nearly ₹1,000 crores in end December
Karnataka, more so Bengaluru which is known for its pub and cocktail culture, witnessed its highest single-day liquor sales of ₹409 crores on December 28 as residents and bars stocked spirits. The Karnataka State Beverages Corporation Limited (KSBCL) reportedly sold liquor worth ₹308 crore during New Year celebrations in the state against the target of ₹250 crores. At least 4.83 lakh boxes of Indian-made liquor (IML) were sold generating revenue of ₹250.25 crore. Around 2.92 lakh boxes of beer bottles were sold for ₹ 57.75 crore. In total 7,76,042 lakh boxes of liquor were sold.
December has been an exceptional month as during Christmas too there were good sales. On December 27, ₹408.58 crore liquor sale was registered. Around 6.22 lakhs of IML boxes and 4.04 lakh beer boxes were sold, generating business of ₹327.50 crore and ₹80.58 crore.
Andhra Pradesh sales hit a new high
Tipplers in Andhra Pradesh gulped down liquor worth nearly ₹300 crores on New Year’s Eve, double the amount of liquor sales during the previous year (₹147 crores). To encourage sale of liquor, the Andhra Pradesh government allowed the retail vends to be open until midnight, while bars were permitted to dispense liquor till 1 am.
The port city of Visakhapatnam registered sale of liquor worth ₹11 crore on December 31 alone with around ₹ 8.89 crores sales happening through 145 liquor outlets in Visakhapatnam district; ₹ 1.55 crores from 119 bars; ₹17 lakh sales from 12 star hotels; ₹8 lakh sales from six clubs and ₹ 7.5 lakh from four tourism hotels, according to the Superintendent of Excise, R. Prasad. Visakhapatnam average daily sales is ₹ 5 crores.
Delhi touches ₹400 crore sales
Delhi also saw liquor sales worth ₹400 crore, with hotels, bars and party events consuming the most alcohol, while Noida had sales touching ₹16 crores on December 31 and January 1, 2025, boosted by the extended hours of vending.
Kerala sees more sales during X’mas
In Kerala, it was Christmas season which saw Keralites guzzle more beer and liquor than during New Year’s Eve. On December 24-25, beer and liquor sales in Kerala was about ₹152 crores (₹94.72 on December 24 and ₹54.64 crores on Christmas day) while on New Year’s Eve it was ₹108 crores, nevertheless ₹13 crores more than the previous year.
The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), the sole wholesaler of alcoholic drinks in the state, released these figures. It said that the sale of liquor and beer was about ₹19,088.68 crores in 2023-24, up from ₹18,510.98 crores in 2022-23. The profile of liquor consumers in Kerala reveals that around 32.9 lakh people out of the 3.34 crore population in the state consume liquor, which includes 29.8 lakh men and 3.1 lakh women. Around five lakh people consume liquor on a daily basis. Of this, as many as 83,851 people, including 1,043 women, are addicted to alcohol.
