Noida residents consumed liquor worth over Rs 865 crore in 2016-17

Noida: Residents of Noida consumed more beer and liquor, especially the high-end foreign made variety, in the last financial year as compared to the previous year.

"In 2016-17, the consumption of country made liquor was 80 lakh litres, foreign liquor 50 lakh bottles and beer 130 lakh bottles. Compared to the previous year, the consumption of country?liquor?has registered an increase of 4 percent and beer 1.7 percent," District Excise Officer (DEO) Kuldeep Yadav told PTI today.

The consumption of foreign liquor has increased by 48 percent, mainly due to the lowering of excise duty on it, he said.

"Taking the average price of beer to be Rs 150, the total sale comes to around Rs 195 crore. Similarly for foreign liquor,?taking an average price of Rs 700, the total sale value calculates to Rs 350 crore. Further, for country liquor, the total sale value at average price of Rs 400 comes to around Rs 320 crore," said Yadav.

He said that total liquor sale value calculates to Rs 865 crore.

"The total excise duty revenue during 2016-17 was Rs 497 crore which was Rs 17 crore more than previous year's revenue," said Yadav.

On action taken to check liquor smuggling, the DEO said, "During 2016-17 around 2.70 lakh litres of smuggled liquor?was seized. 197 vehicles were seized, 280 persons jailed and 2,768 cases registered," he said.

He also said that the sale of canned beer was increasing. Young people prefer canned beer, he said.

"Regarding foreign?liquor, the consumption of high-end liquor?was on the increase. Increase in these two segments during 2016-17 was around 10 and 20 percent respectively," said Yadav.