Wed Jan 01 18:06:23 UTC 2025: ## Karnataka’s Liquor Sales Falter, Casting Doubt on Excise Revenue Target
**Bengaluru, January 1, 2025** – Despite efforts to boost sales through price rationalization, Karnataka’s liquor industry is experiencing unexpectedly weak growth this fiscal year, raising concerns about meeting its excise revenue target. While beer sales have shown a modest increase, Indian-Made Liquor (IML) sales have actually declined, leaving the state significantly behind its projected revenue.
Through the first nine months of the financial year 2024-2025, IML sales have dropped by 1.02% compared to the same period last year, totaling 527.82 lakh carton boxes versus 533.26 lakh boxes last year. Although beer sales increased by 8.22% to 351.07 lakh carton boxes, this growth has been uneven, with a significant drop in the third quarter. December alone saw a 4.14 lakh carton box decrease in beer sales. A planned beer price revision has been postponed.
This sluggish performance has impacted overall excise revenue collection, which stands at ₹26,633 crore – a mere 4.63% increase from last year’s ₹25,455 crore. This represents only 69.13% of the ₹38,525 crore target for the fiscal year, lagging behind last year’s achievement of 73.78% of the target by December. December’s excise revenue collection was particularly disappointing, falling 11.78% to ₹2,900.14 crore compared to the previous year.
B. Govindraj Hedge, general secretary of the Federation of Wine Merchants’ Association, expressed bewilderment at the continued lackluster IML sales, noting that even December’s traditionally strong sales period failed to meet expectations. While the Finance Department anticipates that liquor price rationalization will yield results over the next four quarters, the current figures cast doubt on whether the state will meet its annual excise revenue goals.
First Piper 