Friday, September 23, 2005
Kerala tops in liquor consumption
George Joseph / Kochi September 23, 2005
It is a well known fact that Kerala, the 'God's own country', has the highest literacy rate among the states in India. But one might not be aware that Kerala tops in liquor consumption too.
During 2003-04 Kerala surpassed Punjab in the consumption of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and grabbed the top spot in India.
The recent Onam festival season also had record sale as Keralites consumed IMFL valued at Rs 83.83 crore during the week-long celebrations. It also set an all time high sales during Onam in the history of Kerala State Beverages Corporation, which is the largest retail dealer of IMFL in Kerala.
On September 13 alone (penultimate day of Uthradam) Beverages Corporation had a record sale of Rs 15.11 crore and on 14th total sale was to the tune of Rs 14.22 crore which included sale to Kerala State co-operative Consumers Federation (Consumerfed) which is the second largest retail dealer in Kerala.
Total sale on the same day in 2004 was to the tune of Rs 12.88 crore.
On the main day of Onam celebration (Thiruonam) total sale had increased to Rs 10.83 crore from Rs 9.35 crore in 2004.
A retail outlet at Karunagappally in Kollam district topped in sale on Thiruonam day with a wopping collection of Rs 14.02 lakh. The daily average sale in this outlet is Rs 3 lakh only.
Most of the retail shops had total sale between Rs 5-7 lakh on the Onam day. The daily average sale of retail outlets in the state is to the tune of Rs 1-2 lakh.
Interestingly, these estimates are of organised sector only and one can not estimate the sales turnover in the un-organised sector which mainly includes liquor smuggled from other states and local country liquor.
Kerala also tops in the consumption of rum which include almost 60 per cent of the total sale and brandy (16-17 per cent) comes second followed by whisky with 8-9 per cent. A top official of Beverages Corporation told that lower price tariffs attracts most of the consumers towards rum.
During 2004-05 total IMFL consumption in Kerala was to the tune of 13 million cases which was 10 million cases in 2003-04. Kerala consumed around 45 lakh cases of beer during 2004-05 which was 38 lakh cases in the preceeding fiscal.
Kerala is also having one of the highest per capita liquor consumption in India with 4 full bottle (750 ml each) annually. It is also estimated that the people of Kerala had consumed 13-14 crore bottles of IMFL (750 ml each) in 2004 -05 which was 12 crore in 2003-04.
As the consumption of liquor increases the happiest man in Kerala is the finance minister as it collects a whopping tax revenue to the state's exchequer. During last fiscal total tax revenue collected through the sale of IMFL was around Rs 1,400 crore. Total tax collection in 2003-04 was to the tune of Rs 1,062 crore.
Taxes on IMFL and other alcoholic beverages is one of the highest components of tax revenue of the state, second to sales tax which comes to an average of Rs 4,800 crore annually.
Incidentally, Keralites are one of the highest tax payers for alcoholic beverages with an average of 200 per cent of the price goes to the treasury.
But even in the midst of high literacy and a number of movements against liquor consumption, Kerala is edging towards one of the largest consumers of alcoholic beverages in the world.