Uttar Pradesh has seen a significant surge in the daily consumption of liquor and beer by its residents, with the Uttar Pradesh excise department reporting a value of INR 115 crore per day. This marks a 35% increase from two years ago, when the daily consumption was INR 85 crore, as highlighted by the media.
Official records indicate that liquor sales worth INR 2.5 – INR 3 crore are being recorded each day in nearly every district of the state.
“There are several districts in the state where liquor and beer worth INR 12- INR 15 crore are being consumed in the span of a day,” said a senior excise department official.
Daily liquor and beer sales are highest in Noida and Ghaziabad, where sales range from INR 13 crore to INR 14 crore, followed by Agra with daily sales of INR 12 crore to INR 13 crore. Meerut observes daily sales of around INR 10 crore, while Lucknow records sales of INR 10 crore to INR 12 crore per day. Kanpur follows with sales ranging from INR 8 crore to INR 10 crore per day, and Varanasi brings up the rear with sales of INR 6 crore to INR 8 crore each day.
As for Prayagraj, liquor and beer worth INR 4.5 crore are sold in a day on an average.
According to Jitendra Kumar Singh, the district excise officer of Prayagraj, the increase in sales of liquor and beer can be attributed to various factors. These include a greater social acceptability of alcohol, an improvement in the standard of living among consumers, and better measures to prevent the smuggling of liquor, among other factors.
“There are multiple factors resulting in the growth of revenue. These include higher social acceptability, improvement in standard of living among the consumers, and effective check on smuggling of liquor, among others. All this has had a positive impact on liquor sales,” he said.
During the 2022-23 financial year, the Uttar Pradesh excise department set a new record by generating revenue of a whopping INR 41,250 crore. This figure represents a 14% increase from the previous year’s revenue of 2021-22.
