Hyderabad: Beer business loses fizz this summer

Job loss and in some cases, pay cut and delayed payments of salaries, are among the main reasons for the steep fall in the liquor sales

Hyderabad: Beer is no more a favourite chilled drink for Telangana people this summer. Steep hike in beer prices and the closure of bars and pubs in the lockdown nosedived the beer sales in the state in this hot season. Branded as the second-highest beer consuming State in the country, the Telangana registered only 20 per cent of the targeted beer sales this season.

Every year, 24 lakh cases of beer were sold and this time not more than 5 lakh cases of brewed liquor consumed by the guzzlers. In all liquor sales including whisky and other brands was also dropped due to the closure of wine shops in the nights. Top officials of the State Excise and Prohibition department said that the liquor sales was good in the first week after the opening of the liquor shops from May first week in the State.

In the lockdown period, people were jobless and in some cases, pay cut and delayed payments of the salaries were the main reason for the steep fall in the liquor sales. Hardly Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore worth liquor was sold every day as against the target of the Rs 100 crore sales.

The increase of beer prices from Rs 120 to Rs 150 per bottle hit hard the brewing industry as the sales gone down this summer. People prefer to consume whisky in place of beer. Telangana Wine Dealers Association leader D Venkateswara Rao said the closure of pubs and clubs dented the beer sales more because the visitors prefer to have chilled beer in the sitting.

The closure timings of the wine shops before 7 pm in the evening brought down the entire liquor sales in the lockdown period.

The government should consider to give some more relaxation by extending the time to sell liquor in the evening. People prefer to consume liquor more in the nights only.