Following a hike in foreign liquor prices, Maharashtra has seen a sharp decline in sales, hitting the state’s excise revenue. State excise department figures show that until September, just 15.1 crore litres were sold, a steep drop from 32.19 crore litres during the same period last year.

30 crore litres were sold in 2024-25 in the full fiscal year, 27.72 crore litres in 2023-24, and 22.52 crore litres in 2022-23. Interestingly, foreign liquor sales had risen during the pandemic years.

In 2018-19 and 2019-20, sales were 20.77 crore litres and 21 crore litres, respectively. In a non-pandemic year like 2017-18, sales stood at 17.93 crore litres.

The increase in liquor prices has also hit country liquor sales hard. Between January and September this year, only 21.09 crore litres were sold,

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