Hiked excise duty makes Indian Made Foreign Liquor costly affair; tipplers switching over to more affordable brands
There were fewer ‘cheers’ across the entire district for the 2011-12 financial year as the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) sale has taken a hit.
The State Excise Department admitted that the sole reason for the dip in sales is the hiked excise duty on IMFL. As per the excise department statistics, sale figures for the bygone fiscal year have gone down by 7.36 per cent.
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“As far as IMFL is concerned, from April 2011 to March 2012, the total sale was 2.19 crore bulk litres, which is 17 lakh litres less than the previous financial year. The sole reason behind this dip is the hike in excise duty on foreign liquors,” said Sunil Chavan, superintendent of police (excise).
A marginal consolation is offered by the fact that sale of country liquor and beer has gone up. “In the previous fiscal year, the total sale of country liquor in the district was 2.26 crore bulk litres, which is 2.14 per cent more than the previous one. Similarly, beer sales too have picked up from 3.86 crore bulk litres in 2010-11 to 3.91 crore bulk litres in 2011-12,” said Chavan.
Though the IMFL sales have dipped, the excise department has collected revenue of Rs 108.44 crore for the year 2011-12. The collection for financial year 210-11 was Rs 79.91 crore.
According to Ganesh Shetty, president, Restaurant and Hoteliers Association, the only reason why IMFL sales have dipped is due to the price hike, which has prompted customers to shift to less expensive brands.
He also said that illegal import of liquor from Goa, Daman and Diu and Andhra Pradesh, where the rates of IMFl are much lower, have dented sales in the state.u00a0
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