Cheers! Kerala Residents Indulge in Liquor Expenditure of ₹108 Crore on New Year's Eve

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 1 (NationPress) After celebrating the Christmas festival (December 24-25) with a liquor and beer consumption totaling ₹152.06 crore, Kerala's drinkers escalated their spending on New Year's Eve, disbursing a remarkable ₹108 crore for their favored libations.

This year’s New Year's Eve sales surpassed the previous year’s figures by ₹13 crore, setting a new record.

The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), the exclusive wholesaler of alcoholic beverages in the state, disclosed these statistics.

The KSBC outlet located in Ravipuram, Kochi witnessed the highest sales on New Year's Eve.

Alcoholic beverages are available through 277 retail outlets managed by the Corporation, while the state-supported cooperative organization Consumerfed operates an additional 39 retail outlets.

Sales on December 24 amounted to ₹97.42 crore, and on Christmas day, they reached ₹54.64 crore.

When compared to the 2023 Christmas season, there was a significant increase in sales, with last year's figures at ₹122.14 crore.

With sales peaking and only one quarter remaining in the current fiscal year, projections indicate that this fiscal year will exceed the previous year's liquor sales, which totaled ₹19,088.68 crore, an increase from ₹18,510.98 crore recorded in 2022-23.

The revenues generated from the sale of beer and liquor have sustained the Kerala state treasury. Last fiscal year, these sales produced an impressive ₹16,609.63 crore, surpassing ₹16,189.55 crore in 2022-23.

The demographics of liquor consumers in Kerala indicate that approximately 32.9 lakh individuals from the state’s population of 3.34 crore partake in alcohol consumption, including 29.8 lakh men and 3.1 lakh women. Daily liquor consumption is reported by around five lakh individuals, with 83,851 of them, including 1,043 women, identified as having alcohol dependency.