THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government introduced the new liquor policy at a time when revenue from liquor sales in the state had been consistently increasing.
In the first two years of the second Pinarayi government, the exchequer got richer by around Rs 35,000 crore from liquor sales. During the period (May 2021 to May 2023), 41.68 crore litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) was sold in Kerala. Furthermore, the State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) sold 16.67 crore litres of beer and wine from May 2021 to May 2023, according to information obtained through RTI.
Out of the total revenue earned from liquor during this period, Rs 31,911.77 crore came from the sale of IMFL, while Rs 3,050.44 crore came from beer and wine.
Bevco contributed significantly to the state government’s revenue, paying taxes amounting to Rs 24,539.72 crore, as per the information collected by M K Haridas from the NGO “The Proper Channel.”
Based on the available data, the state witnessed a daily sale of approximately 5.95 lakh litres of IMFL, excluding dry days.
The daily sale of beer and wine was around 2.38 lakh litres. In comparison, during the five years from May 2016 to May 2021, the sale of IMFL was 99.22 crore litres. The state government cited this increase in liquor sales as one of the reasons for implementing the new liquor policy.
According to the RTI information, the state-owned liquor retailer has been operating profitably. However, during the fiscal year 2019-20, which was affected by the pandemic, Bevco suffered a loss of Rs 41.95 crore. On the other hand, the profits collected in previous fiscal years were as follows: Rs 42.55 crore (2015-16), Rs 85.46 crore (2016-17), Rs 106.75 crore (2017-18), and Rs 113.13 crore (2018-19). The auditing of the fiscal year 2020-21 had not been completed at the time of collecting this information.
LOSS OF G41.95 CR IN 2019-20
The state-owned liquor retailer has been operating profitably. However, during the fiscal year 2019-20, which was affected by the pandemic, Bevco suffered a loss of D41.95 crore.