Liquor prices in the State could be in for a hike.
While replying to the discussion on the demands for grants in the State Assembly on Wednesday, Minister for Excise M.V. Govindan said the cost of raw materials for the production of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) had shot up. Even the State-run Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) is facing a loss of ₹3 to ₹4 a bottle in the production of its top brands owing to the increase in the cost of spirit, he said.
“Taking all this into account, the government feels that necessary steps would have to be taken,” he said.
Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress raised the matter in the Assembly. Drawing attention to reports in this regard, he wanted to know whether the government indeed planned to hike the price of IMFL.
Trying to assess liquor consumption levels merely on the basis of the number of liquor shops is not a correct method, according to the Minister. Mr. Govindan was attempting to counter the Opposition charge that the number of liquor outlets in the State had increased by many fold during the Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule compared to the United Democratic Front (UDF) tenure.
The Minister presented a set of sales figures to support his argument. While Bevco sold 1,149.11 lakh cases of foreign liquor during 2011-2016 when the UDF was in power, the State-run corporation sold only 1,036.6 lakh cases during 2016-2021 when the LDF was in power, he said.
Increasing the number of outlets would help avoid overcrowding. The Excise department intended to do away with the queue system in all its outlets and transform them into walk-in premium shops, Mr. Govindan said.
In taking forward the activities of the Excise department, the government strongly centred its policies on abstinence from liquor. The department also strengthened enforcement as part of tackling spurious liquor and drug abuse, he said.
After the present LDF government came to power, 19,221 cases were registered under the Abkari Act and 4,147 cases under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. In all, 14,617 persons were arrested in cases related to the Abkari Act and 4,094 in those related to the NDPS Act.
During this period, the department confiscated 19,826 litres of spirit, 9,013 litres of arrack and 5.19 lakh litres of wash, 26,957 litres of spurious liquor, 4.965 kg of ganja, 9 kg of MDMA and 27.85 kg of hashish.
