While the mercury’s early northward march since March has led to discomfort for people in general, the excise department officials must be salivating, as liquor sales show an upward trend for the same reason.
The rise in sales, especially of beer since last month, comes after a heavy dip after the Anti-Corruption Bureau started its raids against the liquor mafia.
In March alone, the AP Beverages Corporation Limited sold 56.84 lakh cases of beer, up from 37 lakh cases for the corresponding period in 2011, making it a 55-per cent growth. Sales of liquor, meanwhile, went down 3 per cent, according to figures released.
Sources told this newspaper that sales of beer, which were around 15 lakh cases till December 2011, rose to 16 lakh in January this year, 22.4 lakh in February, and 42.05 lakh cases last month.
At Rs 14,847 crore, overall sale in 2011-12 was also `1,500 crore more than the previous fiscal.
Statistics show despite ACB raids, four Telangana districts — Adilabad, Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar and Warangal — maintained a positive growth in sales in March, contrary to the remaining T-districts that saw negative trend.
The average growth in sale in the four districts — incidentally, bypolls were held in all four last month — is 5.28 per cent, against the negative growth of 9 per cent in remaining Telangana areas.
Figures released also showed that the state lost heavily due to low liquor sale in the entire financial year in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.