The sale of hard liquor dropped by over 11 per cent last month, when compared to April last year. Excise officials said that during the month of April this year, party revellers in both town and suburbs preferred strong beer instead, which registered an increase in sale.
While the city registered an eight per cent increase in the sale of strong beer in April, its sales increased by 11.34 per cent in the suburbs. Sale of Indian Manufactured Foreign Liquor (IMFL) dropped by 13 per cent and 11.91 per cent in the city and suburbs respectively.
Mild beers too saw a dip in sales. It dropped by nine per cent in the city and 4.96 per cent in the suburbs.
Sales executive Ashish Bhatt, who is a regular whisky drinker, prefers beer during the summers. “My job involves a lot of field work and by the end of the day I feel exhausted. A chilled beer makes me feel less dehydrated when compared to drinking hard liquor,” he said.
Abhishek Hemnani, owner of Ahura Wines in Matunga (west) said that after the phenomenal increase in excise duty last year, people changed their drinking tastes. “Many people opted for ordinary brands as opposed to premium brands that they earlier used to drink. Also, people have now started drinking strong beer as it is more or less placed at the same price as mild beer, which was not the case earlier," he said.
A senior excise official concurred with Mr Hemnani. The official,requesting anonymity, said that the middle class has now started consuming more beer as it fits in their budget. “Ever since the prices were hiked because of the raise in excise duty, hard liquor became unaffordable for the middle class. This is why people drinking hard liquor have switched to drinking beer,” he said.