Hyderabad: Buy booze now, pay later: EMI facility soon

Hyderabad: Liquor trade has always been given priority by all governments. Roughly one-fifth of the budgets of most of the State Governments are funded by the revenue generated from liquor. But the corona pandemic at least in Telangana seems to have affected the revenue as the sales are not as encouraging as they used to be in normal times forcing the liquor traders to come up with innovative ideas like EMI facility and offering of free snacks made of chicken and eggs.

In the Greater Hyderabad limits and in some urban local bodies, liquor shops were extending EMI option to those who buy premium branded liquor which are mostly above Rs 2,000 per bottle. The buyers are being given the facility of paying it in four instalments. The only time when the liquor sales zoomed was soon after the Government hinted at another round of total lockdown in the State towards end of June. In the first three days of July, liquor sales had gone up. But later as the government ruled out imposing another round of lockdown, liquor sales have once again taken a dip by 30 per cent.

Dealers say that there are no takers for premium whisky brands and hence there is no option except to announce offers to clear the stocks. Hence they came up with EMI offer with some conditions. Those who are familiar with their staff and local denizens can avail the EMI option. Each customer will be given liquor worth a maximum of Rs 4,000. This has helped the tipplers as some of them were living with scaled down income either from their employers or from their business.

Not just that, some liquor traders say that they were offering free snacks made of chicken and egg to the liquor buyers to increase the sales.

Telangana State Wine Dealers' Association leader D Venkateswarlu said that the liquor sales has gone down by 30 per cent in the state . Even in GHMC limits, the sales has gone down drastically particularly after the mass exodus of workers to their native places. The Association says that the ban on permit rooms was another reason for drop in sales of liquor. They claim that the sales were down by about 30 per cent as compared to the pre-Covid-19 period. They said the sales could go up by 20 per cent it the government agrees for permit rooms to reopen. But that is a remote possibility.