Liquor sales across Tamil Nadu on New Year’s Eve stood at ₹160 crore. On the same day in 2019, the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) sold liquor worth ₹150 crore. On December 30, sales were ₹113 crore in 2020, as against ₹92 crore in 2019.
The zone-wise break-down provided by Tasmac shows that on December 31, the Chennai region sold liquor worth ₹48.75 crore and Salem reported ₹26.49 crore in sales. Regions in and around Tier-2 cities such as Madurai and Coimbatore registered ₹27.30 crore and ₹28.40 crore in sales. In the Tiruchi division, sales were ₹28.10 crore.
Low liquor consumption
Tasmac officials said the sales had been low for the last few days, and that had been the main reason for the government to allow bars attached to the Tasmac shops to resume operations.
“Liquor consumption was not as expected. The night curfew was one key reason,” said a source at Tasmac. He said tipplers had cut down on spending. The person in charge of a Tasmac outlet near Anna Salai said, “Usually those who go to the beach pick up liquor from here. But sales were quite low this year.”
This has been the trend during New Year’s Eve for the past few years.
Even in 2018, the government’s cash cow registered sales worth ₹130 crore on December 31 and ₹113 crore the previous day.
Tasmac has over 5,338 shops, and together they sell liquor worth ₹130 crore-₹140 crore a day.
