Liquor sale touches Rs 600 cr-mark during 4 days of Durga pooja festivities in Bengal

Kolkata, Oct 31

The West Bengal government has earned a whopping state excise income of Rs 600 crore through sale of liquor during the four days of the just concluded Durga Puja festival in the state.

Monday was the first working day for the state government after a long Durga Puja vacation and the calculations drawn on the liquor sales in the state and the amount coming to the state exchequer in the form of state excise has made the officials of the state finance department quite elated.

As per calculations of the state finance department officials, the state excise collection has already touched around Rs 8,000 crore which is around 45 per cent of the targeted collection of Rs 17,921.56 crore as per the budget estimates for 2023-24.

Going by the trend during the four days of Durga Puja, the state excise officials expect similar impressive sales of liquor and beer during the current month on the occasion of Kali Puja and Diwali and then in December because of another prolonged festive season starting with Christmas and ending with New Year’s Eve.

"Generally, the period between October and January is the boom period as regards liquor sales and state excise collection because of two prolonged festive seasons at short intervals. But the trend in Durga Puja this year on this count has surpassed all previous records. So it is now almost certain that the targeted state excise collection will be well surpassed by the end of the current financial year," said a state finance department official.

As per the budget estimates for the financial year of 2023-24, the state excise collection is slated to rise to Rs 17,921.56 crore, up by 19.41 per cent from the figure of from Rs 15,001.39 crore as per the revised estimates for the financial year of 2022-23.

Whereas, the total state's own tax revenue as per the budget estimates for 2023-24 is slated to increase by just 12.69 per cent to Rs 88,595.54 crore from the figure of Rs 79,5000 crore as per the revised estimates for 2022-23.