Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) clocked revenues of Rs. 210 crore during the New Year weekend, an increase of 6 per cent when compared to same period last year. On December 31, 2016, the total sale value stood at Rs.112 crore. TASMAC officials said that on January 1, 2017, liquor worth Rs.98 crore was sold across the State.
A salesman at an outlet in Guindy said, “We witnessed good sales on both days. We were worried that the demonetisation would impact sales but we saw sales go up 25 per cent at our outlet.” The manager of TASMAC shop on Anna Salai said, “After nearly 40 days our sales were quite good. We had anticipated a dip in sales but it turned the other way round and shot up 30 per cent for us,” he added.
The State-run liquor market witnessed a 10-15 per cent drop in its sales across Tamil Nadu after the withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs.. 1,000 as legal tender.
Salesmen at the outlets also said that the only challenge they faced during the New Year weekend was tendering change. Post demonetisation, returning change has been a tedious task for traders, businessmen and those who pay daily wages. “Within the first three hours on December 31, we ran out of change and found it tough managing the crowd at the shop. Most tipplers walked in with a Rs.2,000 note,” said a salesman at Thyagaraya Nagar.
TASMAC, the cash cow of Tamil Nadu, has 6,200 retail vending shops and 3,139 of them have attached bars. On an average these shops sell liquor worth Rs.67-70 crore per day and during weekends the sales figure touches Rs.90 crore. Sales have been growing 12-15 per cent year on year at these outlets.
