Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced phase-wise liquor prohibition with a plan to ensure liquor availability only in five-star hotels by the 2024 elections. But it looks like that is confined only to words.
After some initial Hungama, Jagan Government is too focused on minting money from liquor sales. In the budget tabled the other day, the government has expected 16,500 Crore revenue from state excise.
In 2021-22, the state excise revenue estimation is 14,500 Crore. That means 2,000 Crore more than the last year which means an increase in the number of wine shops. Already the rates of liquor in AP are high when compared to neighboring states giving rise to a drop in sales and rampant smuggling.
So, increasing rates may not be possible and the only way to reach the target is by increasing shops and consumption.
In 2019-20 (first year in Jagan’s tenure), liquor sales worth 20,871 Crore happened and that has gone up to 22,000 Crore already this year.
For the 16,500 Crore revenue from state excise, the government should sell liquor worth 25,000-28,000 Crore in 2022-23. Interestingly, the state excise revenues in 2016-17 is a paltry 4644 Crore and it has to increase by 255% if this year’s target is reached.
