Bengaluru: Who says that demonetisation has taken the fizz out of soda? On the contrary, despite a third consecutive drought year in the state and denotification of higher currency last month, liquor sales in Karnataka have surged, albeit by a bleak .05 per cent this year in comparison to a more robust 2015.
What is more surprising is that economically weaker sections of society, which largely consists of daily wage and contract workers and contributes around 85 per cent to the total consumption of liquor in the state, has continued to buy its quota of liquor even after the ban on higher currency. It must be kept in mind that liquor sales in districts are done in cash.
“Since there are hardly any licensees in rural and remote areas, people travel from villages to a distance of at least 10-15 km and buy their weekly stocks from the nearest liquor retailer,” said an official source.
Liquor is slotted in 17 slabs in the ascending order according to its Maximum Retail Price (MRP). In the first four slabs, the MRP on a pint or nip (180 ml) ranges between Rs 45 and Rs 75. This segment sells the highest and contributes to 85 per cent of the total sale and consumption of liquor in Karnataka.
The figures with the Excise Department suggest that between April and November-end this year, the Department has sold 361.93 lakh cases of liquor as against 360.12 lakh cases, which were sold between the same period last year. One case contains approximately nine litres of liquor.
The department, which contributes the highest to the state exchequer, amounts to around 20 per cent of the state’s taxes. The annual target for the department for 2016-17 was escalated to Rs 16,500 crore in comparison to Rs 15,332 crore for 2015-16.
