Tag Archives: liquor industry

Record-Breaking Sales of Liquor for New Year Celebrations Across the Country

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.

Liquor Trade in Maharashtra Up in Arms with Government Mandate on AI-ML Cameras

One Vendor Likely To Benefit

The entire order, the trade states, appears ‘fishy’ as only one company is the single vendor in the absence of other suppliers. The Excise Commissioner, Vijay Suryawanshi, however, has clarified that the government only had specified the technology and not the company from whom the cameras could be purchased. He said there are three to four vendors supplying this type of equipment.

The government has initiated this on ‘an experimental basis’ in Mumbai to begin with and on successful implementation here, it plans to roll this out across the State. Soon other states may follow, leading to ‘keeping the liquor trade in a vice-like grip’. The liquor industry, as such, is highly regulated and this new rule will adversely impact businesses.

As per media reports, Pivotchain, a video analytics company, helps secure Government and private companies’ physical infrastructure with large scale Artificial Intelligence driven Video Surveillance (RAVEN AI). They leverage computer vision to provide maximum performance to vision-based systems when solving day-to-day automation challenges at government and military premises, airports, and logistics centres.

The liquor trade members wonder why the need for such sophisticated systems, best usage scenarios being government, military premises etc. There are wine shops, bars, permit rooms etc which number over 2,000 in Mumbai alone and another 1,500 in the metro region. The software company has got three distributors, reportedly owned by one individual, and this has raised doubts on the entire move itself. The government however maintains that these cameras will help track the person (minor or those indulging in criminal activities) with all his or her background and in real-time.

Constant Monitoring Of Liquor Stores

The liquor vends are seeing this as another way of ‘harassing’ the trade. With elections round the corner, the Excise Department has announced guidelines and one of which states that “Licence holders must share a photo of their shop’s closure daily in the group of excise officers and liquor licence holders to confirm adherence to the specified closing timings. Besides, they need to update their shop’s opening purchase, sales, and closing details daily before the store closes. These updates must be logged into the Excise Department portal using individual logins assigned to each licence holder.”

The Excise Department has cautioned that any violation of the guidelines would lead to stricter penalties. As per guidelines for consumers have been advised to purchase liquor well in advance as shops may close earlier than usual time. They are also required to carry valid permits (permanent or temporary) while purchasing, carrying, or possessing liquor in Maharashtra.

Andhra Pradesh’s New Excise Policy; Retail Back with Private Players

Premium Liquor Stores To Get Nod

The new excise policy will be in force for two years. It will also allow for the setting up of premium liquor stores and alignment of liquor prices with Telangana and Karnataka. It also decided to reserve 10% retail outlets for toddy tappers and to open premium shops at 12 locations other than Tirupati.

The Minister for Information and Public Relations K Parthasarathi said the NDA alliance promised to bring an excise policy that ensures the quality of liquor at affordable price. He alleged several irregularities took place in the previous government in sale of liquor at every stage.

“The cabinet decided to adopt a private retail system for sale of liquor as part of an attempt to increase management efficiency. Of the 3,736 retail outlets in the state, 10 per cent will be allotted to the toddy-tappers community.”

The new government expects to generate additional excise revenues following the implementation of the policy. In fact, Andhra Pradesh had seen a gradual growth year-on-year in excise revenue, up from Rs 17,473 crore in 2019-20, escalated to Rs 23,785 crore in 2022-23 fiscal, even as the YSRCP government was working on reduction in the consumption of alcohol.

Reversing Previous Government Notification

The previous government in a notification in November 2023 had avowed policy of reduction in the consumption of alcohol levels in the State. In order to realize the objective, the Government had taken several measures such as removal of belt shops, dispensing with permit rooms, which are meant for consumption of liquor in the vicinity of shops, removal of private players from the retailing by shop etc.

YSRCP Had Reduced Shops By About 33%

Further, the A.P. State Beverages Corporation Limited had been granted exclusive privilege of retailing of IMFL and Foreign Liquor by the shop from the appointed date i.e. 01.10.2019. Further, the Government had reduced the number of shops to 2934 i.e. by about 33%. Keeping in view the policy imperative and after careful examination of the proposals submitted by the Commissioner of Distilleries and Breweries & Managing Director, the A.P. State Beverages Corporation Limited decided that it will continue the retailing of IMFL & FL through the retail outlets.

The licence period of the Shops shall be one year from 01.10.2023 to 30.09.2024 with the Commissioner of Prohibition & Excise empowered to renew the existing retail outlets run by the APSBCL under Rule 8 of the A.P. Excise (Grant of licence of selling by shop and conditions of licence) Rules, 2019 on payment of annual licence fee. The policy also said there will be no permission or renewal for shops on the road from Tirupathi Railway Station to Alipiri via RTC Bus Stand, Leelamahal circle, Nandi circle, Vishnu Nivasam, Srinivasam. Likewise, no Shop shall be permitted on the road from Leelamahal – Nandi circle – Alipiri – SVRR Hospital – SVIMS in Tirupathi Municipal Corporation area.

The APSBCL shall be permitted to establish walk-in shops (Elite Shops) in the State as per the requirement but without any change in the number of retail outlets permitted. The previous policy also mentioned that it would take up campaigns to educate the public on the evils of consumption of liquor and other intoxicants.