Vijayawada: Liquor sale payments have gone online in Andhra Pradesh as digital transactions through QR code as also debit and credit cards are being accepted on purchase of liquor by consumers at government retail outlets.
There exist 2,934 government liquor retail outlets run by the AP state beverages corporation for sale of liquor. At present, digital payments are being accepted at 2,919 outlets. The remaining outlets are located in remote areas where payment through cash is the norm.
AP registers a liquor sale of ₹70 crore per day. As digital payment has been started recently, only ₹1.50 crore worth payments are being made this way at present. The guzzlers are yet to get habituated to online payment.
However, the APSBCL is giving good publicity by setting up display boards in front of liquor outlets, informing the guzzlers about acceptance of digital transactions.
State Bank of India and AP Online are the service providers for online payment at liquor outlets.
The Opposition parties have been making a hue and cry against the state government, claiming that though a roadside vendor had started accepting digital payment, the state government has been accepting cash with an intention to divert the money.
However, with a majority of the liquor outlets opting for digital payment, the state government preempted their move to malign the image of the state government in the run- up to the elections, a YSRC leader noted.
APSBCL managing director Vasudeva Reddy said, “We have started accepting digital payment at our liquor retail outlets and we are expecting it to pick up soon.”
Despite AP witnessing blistering heat wave conditions due to the delay in the arrival of monsoon, beer sales have dipped by nearly 12 per cent. Out of the 40,000 to 50,000 cases being sold per day, only 30,000 were being sold at present.
But, hard liquor sale has gone up by nearly four per cent. Nearly 70,000 cases are being sold per day in the state. Out of an earning of revenue through liquor of the order of ₹70 crore per day, a lion’s share is from liquor --₹50 crore.
The state government is also planning to withdraw sales of the internationally popular brand of beer, Boom, shortly in the wake of the negative publicity it is getting. Though this brand was introduced by the previous Telugu Desam government in March, 2019, the YSRC government continued with the same brand. But, the TD and some other parties are targeting the state government by saying that it was introducing its own brands in suspicious ways. Hence, the state government's decision to stop its sale.
