Telangana gives a spirited' welcome to the New Year and how

Hyderabad: Liquor sales in Telangana touched a new high in December 2017, at Rs 1,700 crore. On just one day — December 31, the traditional day to celebrate with your favourite tipple — liquor sales in the state touched a record high of Rs 360 crore. 

The 10 to 12 per cent increase in liquor prices a week ahead of New Year celebrations contributed to the increased revenues.

A three-fold rise in business in shops in the city was witnessed on December 31. The average per day turnover of a shop in the city is Rs 2.50 lakh. This went up to Rs 6.50 lakh on December 31.

The 240 liquor outlets in the city achieved a turnover of over Rs 15.60 crore on December 31 alone. 

The demand was so high on New Year’s eve that liquor outlets across the state lifted stocks worth Rs 420 crore from liquor depots of the TS Beverages Corporation Ltd.

On December 29, stocks worth Rs 165 crore, on December 30 stocks worth '185 crore and on December 31, stocks worth Rs 66 crore were lifted.

Normally, liquor sales are around Rs 200 crore around New Year. It may be noted that this time, sales more than doubled to Rs 420 crore.

The state excise department had set a sales target of Rs 1,200 crore for December 2017.  But due to the steep increase in sales close to New Year’s eve, the overall sales crossed Rs 1,700 crore, which is a record for any month.

“The curbing of cheap liquor and black marketing has resulted in steep increase in liquor sales this year. The stringent measures undertaken by the government in the last two years to check cheap liquor has yielded good results. Consumers of cheap liquor have diverted to registered brands. The increase in liquor price by up to 12 per cent ahead of New Year also contributed to growth rate,” said a senior official of the excise department.