After Andhra and TN, Karnataka announces hike in liquor prices

Excise

On Tuesday, the second day after liquor stores were opened, Karnataka recorded a sale of Rs 197 crore.

Soumya Chatterjee

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The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced an additional 11% excise duty for liquor or alcohol sold in the state through retailers. This 11% hike is over and above the 6% hike that had been announced by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in his budget earlier this year. This revised pricing will come into effect from Thursday. Further details are awaited. The government had also incidentally announced some special relief packages for the unorganised sector like one-time Rs 5,000 allowance for those who were affected majorly by the lockdown. The beneficiaries included barbers, cab and auto drivers. The move by the government in Karnataka was expected as already other state governments wanted to rake in additional revenue from liquor sales after a lull due to the lockdown. While neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has hiked the prices by 50%, Delhi has put a 75% COVID-19 specific additional tax for the same. Tamil Nadu too has hiked excise duty by 15%. As earlier reported, Karnataka made Rs 197 crore in liquor sales across the district on Tuesday. Compared to this, the average revenue, on normal non-lockdown days, is around Rs 90-95 crore for a single day, according to Excise Department staff. Approximately 36.37 lakh litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and  7.02 lakh litres of beer was sold as part of the day’s sale. This even though the department had put curbs on bulk buying and stores are operating from 9 am-7 pm only. For now, stores are allowed to sell only three bottles of spirits and six bottles of beer per person.  On Monday, when the stores opened for the first time since the lockdown, Rs 45 crore worth of alcohol was sold. This was because many shops did not open due to technical problems after a long dry-run and there were supply related issues. However, department officials said they expect sales to go down gradually after the initial rush.

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