Even as owners of liquor outlets complain of loss in business post-demonetisation, State Excise Department claims that revenue collection is stable compared to last corresponding months.
The department earned around Rs 28.92 crore in November 2016 when demonetisation in the country was announced and Rs 37 crore approximately in December 2016. The preceding year’s figure indicated that the revenue collection for November remained the same and December had around Rs three crore less than the total amount collected in 2016.
“There is no much impact on the sale of liquor. I don’t think demonetisation has affected the business to a greater extent… We had nonetheless increased duty tax because of which revenue generation did not see a downfall,” Assistant Commissioner of Excise Satyawan Bhivshet said.
However, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals could have upped the revenue further, he conceded.
On the other hand, the retailers complained of massive loss in business claiming that liquor business has by and large taken a backseat. The reason is primarily because most traders are in a tight spot over availability of loose change to give to their customers, who come with high value currency notes. Acute shortage of electronic devices such as Point of Sale (POS) machines has further impacted the business.
“I have applied for PoS machines but the bank has sought three months time to deliver the same. In absence of the machine, we have already lost a considerable amount of money because with demonetisation, both dealers and customers do not have loose change,” Sachin Narvekar, son of proprietor Mithun said.
The Narvekar family owns a liquor outlet ‘Ultimate Flavours’ in Mandur where the inflow of tourists has reduced this season.
Another city-based retailer Dev Mangueshkar shared a similar experience as he lamented that non-availability of machines is playing a spoilsport.
“When the Centre planned to scrap Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, why did it fail to foresee what business establishments will go through? Small traders are the worst affected. We are cooperating with the cashless concept but there are no PoS machines with the banks,” he added.
Those using the device are complaining of poor connectivity.
“People are rarely visiting the wine shops due to cash crunch, and when we get any customer, poor server connection adds to the problem,” a co-owner of another liquor wine store said.
The Excise Department has been creating awareness by asking its stakeholders to switch over to online payment, but the shortage of PoS machines is yet to be fixed.
