Kerala gulps down 51.6 Cr liquor on Christmas eve

Kochi: It seems Keralites just can't do without Bacchus when it comes to celebrations.

The people in the southern state gulped down a record volume of alcohol to celebrate Christmas. The sale of booze on X-mas eve, that is the whole day of Tuesday, was Rs 51.65 crore as against Rs 47.54 crore the same day last year.

"We expect another record sale through our outlets during the New Year which is around the corner," K N Rajath, the officer in charge of sales at Kerala State Beverages Corporation Ltd (Bevco), told NewsMeter.

The data showed the Bevco outlet at Nedumbassery in Ernakulam district topped the state in sales, replacing the one at Chalakudy in Thrissur that had consistently maintained its numero uno position for the last few years. Bevco has 270 outlets across the state.

"Liquor sales to the tune of Rs 63.28 lakh was done through the Nedumbassery outlet while Irinjalakuda outlet in Thrissur came second with sales worth Rs 51.30 lakh," the official said.

Booze sales by the Kerala State Co-operative Consumers’ Federation Limited (Consumerfed) too touched record levels on Christmas eve at Rs 9.46 crore against Rs 8.26 crore last year.

Kerala has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in India and boozers in the state consumed alcohol worth ₹500 crores during 2019 Onam. In the eight days from September 3 to 10, tipplers downed spirit worth Rs 487 crore, up from Rs 457 crore for the corresponding period last year.

Even the massive floods of August 2018 had failed to deter the tipplers of the state. Bevco and Consumerfed together made record sales of Rs 14,508 crore in 2018-19.