Punjabi tipplers graduating to foreign liquor, sales jump 10-fold in four years

Indian Express

7 days ago

More and more people in Punjab are now opting for Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL), data available with with the state's excise and taxation department has revealed.
Approximately 2.5 lakh cases of IFL were sold in Punjab in the 2024-25 fiscal ending March 31, as compared to 1 lakh cases sold in 2022-23, and only 20,000 cases in 2021-22.
'Punjabi tipplers have gradually graduated to the IFL. However, the sale of Punjab Medium Liquor (PML) was recorded to be 32 times more than IFL. As many as 80 lakh cases of PML were sold in the 2024-25 fiscal,' an excise department official said.
In its liquor policy formulated for the state last year, the Punjab government had reduced the prices of IFL and there was no change in the prices of PML.
Buoyed by the increase in demand, the government, in the excise policy for the current fiscal, made Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL) costlier, targeting to collect Rs 11,020 crore in revenue — a sharp rise of Rs 875 crore over last fiscal.
'Every bottle of IFL cost lesser last year. It was felt that the IFL was consumed by Punjabis at weddings and other celebratory parties. But a large quantity was being smuggled in from Haryana and Chandigarh, where it was cheaper than Punjab.
This segment was troubling us. We rationalised the fee structure by bringing about changes in the price-determining formula. This has paid dividends and the volume of sales has risen,' the official said.
This year's policy has made IMFL costlier by Rs 10-20 per bottle, while the IFL has seen a marginal increase in prices.
The price of Punjab Medium Liquor (PML) or country-made liquor and beer has not been changed.
The government, another excise department official, said did not hike the prices of country made liquor as it is a segment catering to rural masses and is a major revenue generator.
This official too said that residents of the state were graduating from country made liquor to IFL. 'The transition has started but still the country made liquor sells the most. In fact, all segments are growing. Every year, we see 7-8 per cent growth in the trade as more youths are added to the list of tipplers,' he said.
Punjab was already giving a tough time to Chandigarh having made the quota of liquor unlimited, and IMFL and country made liquor cheaper than neighbouring Haryana and the joint Capital, in its first policy after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took over the reins of the state.
Now, to make dividends, the government has increased quota of country made liquor by 3 per cent. — from 8.286 crore proof litres in 2024-25 to 8.534 crore proof litres in 2025-26.
After the IFL, the government is now looking at selling more beer and has reduced the license fee for the beer shops considerably. It will be Rs 25,000 next fiscal, a sharp decline from Rs 2 lakh per shop last fiscal.
A source in the government said that last year only 25 new shops were set up across the state.