Hyderabad: Rs 86 crore, Rs 70 crore, Rs 69 crore.
Well, these amounts are not the costs of some infrastructure or industrial projects. Each of these figures reflects sales at three different wine shops in Telangana in the last 20 months.
In and around Hyderabad alone, including parts of Ranga Reddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy districts that are considered part of Greater Hyderabad, around 45 liquor shops logged sales of more than Rs 40 crore and more, while 13 clocked Rs 50 crore or more in sales during the period. Four shops had sales of over Rs 60 crore and one registered sales of Rs 70 crore or more.
However, the bragging rights for selling the most liquor by a single shop — according to the excise department data — goes to a wine shop in Kukatpally with an apparent ‘licence to thrill’ its customers with designated ‘MED007” number by the department, which is credited with pushing across its counters Rs 86 crore worth of liquor in the 20-month period between December 2021 and July 2023.
The liquor sales for this 20-month period have been pegged by the excise department at Rs 54,419 crore from the 2,620 wine shops. The top slot among ‘excise’ districts for liquor sales was taken by Ranga Reddy with total sales of Rs 3,708 crore, followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri with Rs 3,539 crore, Hyderabad Rs 2,606 crore, while Sangareddy district, parts of which come under Greater Hyderabad, was fourth with sales of Rs 2,292 crore.
With liquor sales booming in every district of the state, the recent allotment of liquor licences from December 1, 2023, to November 3, 2025, saw 1.08 lakh applications for the 2,620 shops, with the state government receiving a non-refundable fee of Rs 2 lakh with each application.
