₹7,977 cr. collected as excise duty against annual target of ₹24,580 cr. till July-end
After two months of slump in beer sales due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, July saw a huge increase by 7.94 lakh carton boxes over the corresponding period of last year.
As against 12.62 lakh carton boxes sold in July 2020, 20.56 lakh carton boxes of beer were sold this July.
According to statistics shared by the Excise Department, the sale of beer had slumped by 4.62 lakh carton boxes and 9.55 lakh carton boxes in May and June respectively in comparison to the corresponding period last year. While 7.67 lakh carton boxes had been sold in May, 11.99 lakh carton boxes were sold in June this year.
Sources said that the beer sales had dropped drastically during the two-month period as the window of sale was limited to morning hours, and also pubs and bars had remained shut during the stringent lockdown.
IML sales too up
Similarly, the sale of Indian Made Liquor (IML) increased from 48.93 lakh carton boxes in July 2020 to 53.41 lakh carton boxes, showing an increase by 4.48 lakh carton boxes. Unlike the sale of beer, which saw a steep decline, IML sales had come down only marginally. The sale of IML had dipped by 79,000 carton boxes in May when a total of 43.67 lakh carton boxes were sold. In June, the sales dipped by 1.77 lakh carton boxes to report total sales of 54.53 lakh carton boxes in respect to the corresponding period of last year.
In terms of total sales, 207.60 lakh carton boxes of IML were sold in the first four months of the financial year as against 149.69 lakh carton boxes in the corresponding period last year. A total of 65.94 lakh carton boxes of beer have been sold this year as against 46.45 lakh carton boxes last year.
Meanwhile, ₹7,977 crore has been collected as excise duty as against the annual target of ₹24,580 crore till the end of July. The excise duty growth has been reported at 36 % over the corresponding period of last year when ₹5,864 crore had been collected.
