Capital holds its drink: Price hike, Demonetisation to blame

HYDERABAD: Blame it on demonetisation and price hike by the excise department, but tipplers in Telangana have been forced to cut down their liquor intake. And this has brought down the earnings of the excise department, one of the major revenue sources for the government.
With only two months left in the current financial year, the revenue from liquor in Hyderabad and Secunderabad is still hovering around `1,446.27 crore as against last year's `1,819.13 crore (for the full year).As the capital city, Hyderabad enjoys the highest share in total liquor consumption. The excise department has 11stations to supervise 177 shops and 237 bars in the city. It was the excise earnings that had helped the state government create a revenue record of `12,143.88 crore in the 2015-16 financial year. But the state that registered an impressive 18.61% growth just a year ago seems to have been affected.
“There is a steep 20-30% fall in sales due to price hike by the government followed by demonetisation of `500 and `1,000 notes. People have reduced their liquor intake. Several shops and bars incurred losses in November and December, which used to be high-consumption months. The sale did not pick up even during Sankranti,“ D Venkateswara Rao, president of Telangana Wine Dealers Association, told TOI.
But excise officials beg to differ. “There is a slight reduction in the overall consumption, but we have two more months in this financial year to recover from the sudden jolt of demonetisation. We are optimistic of generating `12,000 crore revenue from the sale of liquor in the current year despite the ban on high-value currency and a general slowdown,“ excise commissioner RV Chandravadan told TOI.
Wine dealers, however, are crying foul. The price of Blender's Pride was increased from `895 to `1,060. “ As per the agreement, we should get the benefit of this hike. But the excise department tricked the dealers by incorporating it as special margin in the bill. Now income tax sleuths are after us demanding higher tax and we are left with the same 20% commission on old prices,“ said a dealer in Banjara Hills.