Liquor sales in Maharashtra drop by after Supreme Court’s 2017 ban

Consumption of beer dropped by 15.04%, while consumption of IMFL and country liquor dropped by 3.99% and 6.81%, respectively.

The Supreme Court’s (SC) 2017 ban on liquor shops and beer bars within 500 metres of highways seems to have hit consumption in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2018.

On April 1, 2017, SC banned the sale of liquor within a 500-metre radius of state and national highways. (Representational photo)

The consumption of beer dropped by 15.04%, while the consumption of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country liquor dropped by 3.99% and 6.81%, respectively between April 2017 and March 2018. Wine sales also dropped by 3.28% during the period.

On April 1, 2017, SC banned the sale of liquor within a 500-metre radius of state and national highways. The order resulted in the shutting of 60% of the 25,173 shops and bars in the state.

The apex court later revised its order, allowing for some of the establishments to reopen, but the state still has 5,500 establishments that are still non-operational. Though the closure of 60% establishments in the first six months of the order has now reduced to 20%, it has still had a significant impact on the overall consumption of all types of liquor.

The consumption of beer dropped from 3,248 lakh bulk liters (BL) in 2016-17 to 2,760 lakh BL in 2017-18 . The IMFL sales had dropped from 1924 lakh BL to 1793 lakh BL, country liquor sales dropped from 3,257 lakh BL to 3,127 lakh BL, and wine sales dropped from 64.62 lakh BL to 62.5 lakh BL in the same time period.

Interestingly, the government revenue generated from the sale of liquor has not been hit due to the excise duty which had been increased by the government last year. The revenue from excise duty recorded a 9.44% rise, taking the collection to ₹13,448 crore against the set target of ₹12,500 crore. The whopping rise allowed the government to keep its fiscal deficit in check.

“The rise in the revenue collection was due to the 17% hike in excise duty on beer in October 2017 and 12.5% hike on country liquor in February 2017. The was no increase in the duty on IMFL. This year, we expect the revenue to cross ₹14,500 crore,” said an official from the excise department.