BENGALURU: The slowdown in the economy may have dampened revenue collection in other government departments, but not the State Excise. From a sluggish start due to the monsoon fury and floods in the coastal and North Karnataka regions this financial year, to a heady march now, the department is racing towards its rather ambitious revenue target of Rs 20,950 crore for 2019-20.
“The department is well on its way to not just meet expectations, but exceed the target this fiscal. In December alone, till the 30th, the revenue was Rs 1,700 crore,” said Excise Minister H Nagesh, giving an indication of the earnings. The festival season of Deepavali, Dasara, Christmas and New Year is a major revenue grosser for the department every year as consumption and sale of liquor picks up.
The revenue generated up to November-end was Rs 14,400 crore. The total revenue as on December 30 is Rs 16,100 crore, the minister pointed out.
According to department officials, they have done marginally better compared to last year, though sale and consumption of beer across the state has seen a downward trend. “We have sold 54.5 lakh cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) as on December 30 this year as against 52 lakh cases of IMFL last year for the corresponding period,” said a senior Excise officer.
As far as beer sales is concerned, he said that this year, the department sold 27 lakh cases as against 26 lakh cases last year in the same period. “A dip in the sale and consumption of beer could be because of floods and a crisp winter this year,” he added. One case of liquor contains approximately nine litres of alcohol.
With sales slowly picking up, and an expected increase in consumption of IMFL during Christmas and New Year, the minister sounded confident of achieving the Rs 20,950 crore target in the next three months. He stressed that he and the Excise Commissioner were personally reviewing sales in every division. “The demand for beer is high in the coastal regions owing to humidity and we are taking measures to meet the demand,” he added.
Retail liquor stores too echoed the sentiment. “We have had good sales throughout the year with beer contributing to the lion’s share followed by hard liquor. The month of December saw the highest revenue compared to any other month in the year,” said Ganesh, manager of Liquor Cart in Koramangala.
However, pub and bar owners had a different take. “The Excise Department told us that we could pick up our quota of beer only if we bought the same amount of IMFL as last year. We had to comply because beer sells the most and without it, there would be no business,” said the owner of a popular watering hole in
the city.