Alcohol worth Rs 218 crore sold in Delhi during last week of 2022

The Delhi government earned a revenue of Rs 560 crore from liquor — excise duty and value added tax — in December 2022, data showed. The sale of liquor in Delhi during December month was 12.55 lakh bottles in 2019, 12.95 lakh in 2020 and 12.52 lakh in 2021 and 13.77 lakh in 2022.

During a weeklong celebration and partying from Christmas night to New Year's eve, Delhiites drank more than one crore bottles of alcohol costing more than Rs 218 crore, according to authorities.

On December 31, New Year's Eve, the national capital reported the greatest alcohol sale of 20,30,000 bottles. On the day the new year began, the city drank alcohol worth Rs 45.28 crore, a top Excise department officer reported on Monday.

Between December 24 and December 31, a record 1.10 crore bottles of alcohol, predominantly whiskies, were sold in Delhi. He said that the value of the alcohol sold was Rs 218 crore.

According to official statistics, Delhi sold 13.8 lakh liquor bottles on average in December 2022, which was the highest annual sales total in the previous three years. According to statistics, the Delhi government received Rs 560 crore in excise duty and value added tax from the sale of alcohol in December 2022.

In Delhi, 12.55 lakh bottles of alcohol were sold during the month of December in 2019, 12.95 lakh in 2020, 12.52 lakh in 2021, and 13.77 lakh in 2022.

Meanwhile, liquor worth over Rs 9 crore was sold across Noida and Greater Noida on December 30 and 31, an Excise department official said on Monday. According to District Excise Officer Rakesh Bahadur Singh of western Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar, which is next to Delhi, sales of alcoholic beverages totaled about 140 crore in December alone.

According to the officer, 2.5 lakh (250 ml packs) of "desi" (country-made) liquor, 89,000 bottles of foreign liquor, and 1.5 lakh cans of beer made up the entire amount of alcohol sold in December.

(WITH PTI INPUTS)