Liquor prices more than double in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry will no longer be a tipplers' paradise serving quality liquor at an affordable price as the special corona fee imposed has hiked the price of all liquor products at par with Tamil Nadu. The hike is the highest for the ordinary category of liquor brands, crossing 120%. For example, a popular brandy in the ordinary category which was priced at Rs 210 per 750ml bottle now costs Rs 480, a hike of Rs 270 after the special corona fee. The hike is also very steep in medium and premium segments so that the price is at par with Tamil Nadu.
Beer drinkers will be the worst hit as the price of all brands of beer has been doubled. A 650ml Budweiser lager beer, which was priced at Rs 113, will now cost Rs 227. A 650ml Heineken lager beer, which was priced at Rs 145, will now be sold at Rs 508.
There are 920 brands available in Puducherry under ordinary, medium and premium categories of liquor brands, and 154 brands common in both Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. The Puducherry government imposed a special corona fee on different slabs on these 154 liquor brands to match the liquor price in Tamil Nadu. The government has imposed a 25% special corona fee on the MRP of brands that are available only in Puducherry.
Excise department is one of the major sources of revenue for the Puducherry government. The department generated more than 800 crore through excise duty, additional excise duty, license fees and label fees among others in 2018-19. The government had fixed a target Rs 1,100 crore for 2019-20 and excise sources said the department has generated about Rs 900 crore in 2020 so far.
Puducherry produced Rs 31 lakh cases of Indian-made foreign liquor and Rs 37 lakh cases of beer in 2019-20, that are both consumed locally and exported. Industry experts said the consumption of liquor will drastically come down because of the steep hike in price and the special corona fee will not fetch the revenue the government had expected. "The government has imposed different tax slabs for different brands of liquor, and we will be in a position to access the quantum of corona tax only after we have the sales' figures of all the brands. The corona tax may not fetch more than Rs 50 crore in three months," said an industry source.