Telangana government to gain from AP’s liquor ban

Hyderabad: The steps being taken by the Andhra Pradesh government towards banning liquor, a campaign promise of the YSRC, will turn into a boon for the Telangana government. The AP government has decided to halve the number of liquor outlets and run them itself.

With this, AP liquor contractors are planning to invest in shops in Telangana state, especially in the border districts like Khammam, Nalgonda and Mahbub-nagar. Previous experience has been that those wanting to drink liquor head to nearby states.

Keeping this in view, the Telangana state government is thinking of increasing the application fee for liquor shops.

AP has 4,000 liquor shops and the AP government intends to bring this number down to 2,000 and take them over. Telangana state has about 2,240 liquor shops. Officials said the TS government may not increase this number.

The TS government’s liquor year starts from October and July in AP.

Due to the elections, the AP government had extended the licence period by three months. The liquor year in both states will now start in October.

The TS government collects Rs 1 lakh as application fee for each liquor shop which is not refundable. Last year, the government earned about Rs 300 crore through application fee alone. Keeping in view the expected heavy competition with the entry of AP liquor contractors, the TS government is considering doubling the fee to Rs 2 lakh.

Officials said they were expecting Rs 500 crore revenue through the application fee this time. A liquor contractor can apply for any number of shops but the norm is that each contractor will apply for three to four shops. If any shop gets more than one application, the selection is done through a lottery.

The officials are expecting more competition for liquor shops in the areas bordering AP with the entry of AP liquor contractors. They are also expecting more liquor sales in these outlets.