When the dog days are at its sweltering best, many seek refuge in a bottle of chilled beer. Generally, beer guzzlers down more quantity to beat the summer heat and its sellers make brisk business.
But this year, though the sales in Visakhapatnam district have gone up it has not picked up as expected, and in fact the Excise Department is falling short by about 30 per cent when compared to last year.
A number of factors such as election code and uncertain Excise policy are said to be the reasons.
For the period from May 1 to 23 in 2014, the sale of beer was over 2.6 lakh boxes. In the current year, the sale for the same period is about 1.74 lakh boxes, according to Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise M. Satyanarayana.
The difference is due to the election code. Last year, the election code was in force almost from March to the mid-May. Owing to the code there was rationing of supply. Once the code was removed, guzzlers had gone berserk and the sales hit the roof in just 15 days and this factor made a huge difference, says Mr. Satyanarayana.
In figures
Going by the comparative statistics of the last three months, it is observed that the sales have picked up in March and April and dropped in May, where it was supposed to pick up. In March 2014, the sale was about 1.58 lakh boxes and in April it was 1.68 lakh boxes. In the current year the sale in March was 2.61 lakh and in April it was 1.83 lakh boxes.
Uncertainty over the Excise policy is said to be another reason for the drop. Licence holders are cautious on investing as the State government is contemplating stopping the private licence business and go for its own retail outlets.
