Malayalees, living in the pristine natural environs of God’s Own Country, have reaffirmed their faith in and loyalty to Wine God Bacchus once again by guzzling liquor worth Rs8,841 crore in the last financial year which was 12 per cent more than the value of the booze they had consumed in the previous year. This is an all-time record.
As per figures available with Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco), the State-run monopoly bootlegger, its sales turnover in 2012-13 leaped to Rs8,841 crore from Rs7,860.15 crore recorded in the previous year, showing an increase in money terms of Rs981 crore.
The appalling aspect of Kerala’s booze sales becomes obvious when one considers the average cost of rice, the staple food of 3.23 crore Malayalees in the State. At the average price of Rs20 per kilo, Keralites are spending only around Rs8,000 crore for the 40 lakh tonnes of rice they require a year while booze sales are worth more than that.
The State Government, which continues to claim to be doing all it can to bring down the level of liquor consumption, will only be happy to see the Bevco turnover skyrocketing every passing year as its revenues from liquor sales last year by way of taxes was Rs7,251 crore. This was Rs6,352 crore in the year 2011-12.
That fiscal 2012-13 would witness a huge leap in liquor sales in the State was obvious just after the first quarter: Excise Minister K Babu had told the State Assembly in July last that the first quarter Bevco sales turnover had shown a ten percent rise compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
As a norm, the turnover of Bevco from sale of liquor has been climbing steadily by 10 percent to 20 percent every passing year for the past several years. Fiscal 2011-12 had shown a 17 percent leap in sales from Rs6,730 crore in 2010-11. In 2009-10, the Bevco turnover was Rs5,538.59 crore. liquor is sold in the State through 383 State-owned retail outlets and over 700 bars.
As ever, rum, accounting for over 65 per cent of the booze sold, remained the favourite drink of Kerala tipplers last year while brandy occupied the second position with 40 percent share. The other forms of alcohol constituted the remaining five percent sold. Altogether, 2.44 cases of IMFl were sold in the State in 2012-13 while 2.41 crore cases of liquor were sold in 2011-12.
“Successive Governments have been happy to witness the increase in booze sales because of the revenues they have been making through taxes. That is still going up. Think of this: Booze sales in Kerala have seen a 40-times rise in two decades,” says Thrissur-based anti-liquor crusader Achuthankutty.