Say cheers! Telangana govt slashes beer prices by Rs 10 on MRP

Hyderabad: Seemingly worried about a sharp drop in sales, Telangana government slashed the prices of all beer brands by Rs 10. On Monday, the Prohibition and Excise Department reduced the special excise cess on beer and issued a GO stating that beer price will be slashed by Rs 10 per bottle. This order has come into effect from Monday.

Director of Telangana State Beverages Corporation Limited will take further action in the matter accordingly, said the chief secretary in his order. The move is aimed to encourage beer sales which took a drastic hit due to the Covid outbreak in March 2020 with people avoiding consuming cold items because of the unfounded fear of catching the disease.

The government had hiked prices by Rs 30 in May 2020 when the liquor shops were open for the first time after the first lockdown. The prices, however, still remain high when compared to what they used to be before the pandemic. The minimum price for the branded beer costs Rs 150.

The income in the coffer in the government had dropped, looking at the shortfall the government identified price hike was one of the reasons for the shortfall. In 2019-20, over 4.92 crore beer cases were sold in Telangana, Due to the Covid outbreak in 2020-21, beer sales fell sharply to 2.73 crore cases

Meanwhile, on Monday the state government stopped supplies of beer to liquor dealers across Telangana.

The sudden development triggered speculations that the supplies were stopped because the state government wants to reduce beer prices across all brands by Rs 10 per bottle and print revised prices on bottles which is expected to take two more days. Nearly 13 lakh beer cases are in depots and once these stocks are sold, beer bottles will be supplied with the new MRP.