No Boom, no President Medal, only branded liquor to be sold in Andhra from Oct 1

Amaravati: Say cheers! Local liquor is passé, branded spirits are in.

No more Boom, President Medal, Napoleon, Block Buster, Special Status, and Legend in Andhra Pradesh. From October 1, only branded liquor will be sold in the wine shops.

The new liquor policy, which the Andhra Pradesh government will introduce on October 1, will end spurious brands.

Andhra Pradesh Excise Minister K Ravindra said the department is studying good liquor policies to make quality brands available in the state. The state is to replace local brands with popular companies.

According to the minister, the erstwhile TDP government, between 2014 and 2019, treated liquor only as a private business, enabling the availability of all brands across the country. However, he alleged that the previous YSRCP government in 2019 saw liquor as a source of income. He also claimed that it even went to the extent of harming consumers' lives.

When digital payments were available for liquor sales all over the country, the YSRCP government allegedly made the cash mode available to loot thousands of crores of rupees.

"Consumers were deprived of the luxury of choosing the brands they liked, compelling buyers to purchase only available liquor brands," the minister alleged.

New brands of liquor:

During the YSRCP tenure, many popular whiskey, and beer brands were unavailable in the state. Brands with interesting names, such as Block Buster, Boom, President Medal, Governor Choice, Legend, Power Star 999, Seventh Heaven, and High Voltage, are some of the alcohol brands available in the wine shops. These were popularly called J-Brands (Jagan brands) in social media.

TDP and BJP parties alleged that all these liquor brands being sold are from the YSRCP leaders.

In 2023, Andhra Pradesh BJP president Daggubati Purandeswari claimed that the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL) was acquiring 74 percent of liquor from 16 companies, out of 100-plus registered producers, which are all linked to YSRCP leaders. She also demanded to disclose the names of the owners of distilleries supplying liquor to the state.

However, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy claimed that the brands the TDP is now discussing about were all introduced during the TDP rule.

Speaking on the liquor brands, a youth from Vizag said, "In the last three years, we have seen more local brands, which were popularly called `Jagan Brands’. Especially regarding beer brands, only Block Buster and Boom Boom were mostly available. We couldn't get beer brands such as Carlsberg, Heniken, Corona, or Hoeagarden in the wine shops,"

CID probe on liquor sales during YSRCP:

In July 2024, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu announced that his government would order a thorough investigation by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) into the alleged irregularities in the liquor trade in the state during the previous YSR Congress party government.

While presenting a white paper on the excise policy implemented by the previous government, Naidu said that the YSRCP claimed to have initially reduced retail liquor outlets from 4,380 to 2,934. Still, the number went up again to 3,392. The number of bars, too, remained 840.

High prices-Health issues

As the new brands of liquor came and prices increased in the state, TDP alleged that there has been an increase in the deaths and ill health among consumers with the consumption of spurious liquor brands.

As per the reports, in the last few years, liquor consumption has increased. The per capita consumption, which was 5.55 liters in 2019-20, went up to 6.23 liters in 2023-24. This has also led to illicit liquor distillation and the inflow of non-duty-paid liquor.

There were also allegations that due to abnormally high liquor prices in the state, liquor was smuggled from the neighboring states of Telangana and Karnataka on a large scale.

Alcohol ban-- still a dream for women:

Meanwhile, an alcohol ban in the state is still a dream for many women who see their husbands addicted to alcohol.

According to the National Family Health Survey, alcohol consumption in the state is 11.5% between 2019-21, nearly 1.6 percentage points above the national average of 9.9%. AP stood slightly above the national average in alcohol consumption.

One of the election promises of the TDP was to give quality liquor and reduce prices. "I am telling you, after 40 days (of TDP forming the government), not only for quality liquor, we take the responsibility for reducing prices," Naidu said while speaking in Kuppam during the election rally.

On the other side, the then Opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also promised a gradual ban on liquor. During his Praja Sankalpa Padayatra, he met families affected by alcohol and promised to make alcohol available only in five-star hotels in the third phase.