Beer prices to soar as summer arrives

Hyderabad: This summer, guzzlers will have to shell out more for chilled beer as the Telangana State Government is set to hike the prices by at least 15 per cent in a week or ten days.

A committee comprising officials of state Excise department submitted a proposal recommending increasing prices of beer to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. In view of the increase of beer consumption in summer every year, officials said that hiking prices in the peak season will help the government earn more revenue in the beginning of the 2018-19 financial year. This is a classic case of making hay while sun shines.

As per the excise policy, the government would have to revise the liquor prices every two years. The proposal for the increase of liquor prices has been hanging fire since the bifurcation of the State in 2014. The TS government revised liquor prices in December last.

The increase in beer prices would push up revenue by 2 per cent to 3 per cent every month. At present, liquor sales are contributing nearly Rs 900 crore to the state's exchequer every month.

In summer last year, beer sales had hit an all-time record. A total 42 lakh cases of beer were sold in the peak summer month of May. In April, the sale was 40 lakh cases.

A single case of beer contains 12 bottles containing 650 ml each. Nearly 60 per cent of beer sales was registered in the state capital alone. In fact, Telangana is the highest beer consuming state in the country, followed by New Delhi, Kerala and Karnataka.

Till 2016, Kerala was top in beer consumption with influx of domestic and foreign tourists. Consumption of beer in Telangana in 2015- 16 was the 336 lakh cases but it zoomed to 360 lakh cases in 2016-17 financial year. This year, it touched nearly 390 lakh cases.

To meet the beer demand, all the 17 breweries in the state have been asked to move huge stocks in advance to the depots maintained by Telangana Beverages Corporation Limited in the district headquarters.