The New Year party is incomplete without alcohol, which, in turn, gives a boost for the liquor industry. Just like every year, people across the state rushed to the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (TASMAC) outlets to buy liquor, leaving the state-owned liquor company with a year-end sale of Rs 159 crore on New Year’s Eve, on Thursday.
As per the data from the company, of the total sales, TASMAC outlets in Chennai recorded the highest sales worth Rs 48.75 crore. This was followed by Coimbatore, where people purchased liquor worth Rs 28.40 crore, and then Trichy, which saw liquor sales worth Rs 28.10 crore. While Madurai saw a liquor sale of Rs 27.30 crore, Salem recorded Rs 26.49 crore-worth sales through its TASMAC outlets.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions, the TASMAC liquor sale on New Year’s Eve 2020 was similar to last year. Tamil Nadu had recorded sales worth Rs 150 crore on New Year's Eve 2019. Also, the sale was reportedly down in 2019 due to the polling of rural local body polls then.
Incidentally, this year, the state earned more profit than the current profit on New Year’s Eve, immediately after the TASMAC liquor shops were reopened post the lockdown, on May 7, 2020, except in Chennai as the city reported increased cases. The state witnessed a huge profit of a whopping Rs 170 crore this year soon when the TASMAC shops reopened for the public six weeks after the lockdown in March.
In May, the Madras High Court gave the nod to reopen TASMAC shops with certain norms amid the pandemic. The High Court permitted TASMAC to provide only one bottle of 750 ml liquor to each person at the counter. To encourage cashless transactions, the court permitted TASMAC to issue two bottles (750 ml each) for people using online transactions.
However, despite the COVID-19 restrictions, TASMAC received Rs 170 crore profits by selling 20 lakh litres of alcohol. The sales took place in just 3,700 outlets across various districts, except Chennai. However, although TASMAC authorities tried to ensure physical distance and issued tokens, they struggled to handle the crowd.