Indicating a possible loosening of the grip of Wine God Bacchus on Malayalees, who top in per capita consumption of booze in India, liquor sales in Kerala showed a not-so-slight fall in the first quarter of the current financial year. This is the first time in 16 years a fall in sale of liquor through the outlets of the State-run Beverages Corporation (Bevco) is witnessed.
As per the figures of the analysis of the performance in the first quarter of this fiscal, the corporation had sold 79 lakh cases of IMFl which was five lakh cases less in comparison with the figure of the corresponding period last year. This is in contravention to the trend of liquor sales of Bevco which used to see a five-per cent growth every passing quarter.
There was a 10 per cent fall in the growth of profits of the corporation. Officials said such a fall in profit growth was being recorded for the first time in recent years. Bevco contributed Rs 2,450 crore to the State Exchequer in taxes on liquor sales in the first quarter but the expectation was to give Rs 2,600 crore as the amount in the corresponding period last year was Rs 2,300 crore.
The last time a fall was seen in liquor sales in the State was in 1997 when it was by just 10,000 cases while this in the first quarter of the current fiscal was by 5,00,000 cases. Since 1997, liquor sales in Kerala have grown by 10 to 20 per cent every passing year. Bevco had sold liquor worth Rs 8,818.18 crore last year, handing over in taxes Rs 7,240.89 crore to the Government in taxes.
Over 20 per cent of the total revenue of the State Government is coming from the booze market. “If the dip seen since April this year in the sale of liquor is actually due to people’s sudden-found aversion to booze, that is good. But I don’t think that is the case,” said a former member of the State Planning Board. Thrissur-based anti-liquor crusader Kumaran Nair said the fall in sales in the fiscal’s first quarter was no reflection of any new thinking among the boozers. “For such a change to occur, there should be marked changes in the social and economic spheres. The sales had fallen because boozers from the grassroots were not earning well during the particular period,” he said.
A top Bevco official agreed with this. “It is not surprising that the liquor sales fall in months of continuous rains as lack of jobs hit boozers. Rains had lashed the State continuously for several weeks this year and this could be one explanation,” he said. However, he denied reports that increase in illicit liquor supply was the reason for the dip in the corporation’s sales volume.
As a norm, the turnover of Bevco from sale of liquor had kept climbing steadily by 10 per cent to 20 per cent every passing year for the past several years. Fiscal 2011-12 had shown a 17 per cent leap in sales from Rs 6,730 crore in 2010-11. In 2009-10, the Bevco turnover was Rs 5,538.59 crore. liquor is sold in the State through 383 State-owned retail outlets and over 700 bars.
Bevco’s liquor sales had contributed Rs 6,350 crore to the State Exchequer in 2011-12 and this grew by Rs 890 crore to Rs 7,240 crore in the last fiscal. “Considering the trend since 1997, the Government should get a minimum of Rs 8,500 crore from the sector this fiscal but this won’t happen if sales do not pick up from the Onam season,” said the Bevco official.