Thiruvanathapuram: The earnings of Kerala's liquor monopoly, BEVCO, continues to soar even as the shelves at its retail outlets across the State have run out of low-priced spirits often demanded by boozers.
BEVCO's income spurted by Rs 2.76 crore in the last two weeks over the figures in just the preceding week.
A sleight of hand in marketing is reportedly behind the soaring income despite the shortage of best-selling liquor brands.
Sources in the monopoly liquor stockist and retailer claimed top-selling brands of smaller volumes and lower prices are no longer supplied to outlets. This forces the desperate buyer to order a highly priced brand or even a bottle of larger volume, viz 500 ml or 750 ml.
HoneyBee, OPR, OCR and Jawan have been the top-selling brandy and rum in the Kerala market. Often quarrels break out between customers and salesmen as the demanded spirit is not available.
BEVCO Managing Diector Shyam Sundar has a different take on the reported shortage. "The nexus between liquor manufacturers and government officials has been broken," he said without elaborating.
Earlier, it was reported that liquor manufacturers had curtailed supply to BEVCO following differences over the margin.The Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) had opposed BEVCO's move to raise commission. BEVCO wanted to introduce a slab system for the commission or cash discount charged from the liquor companies. BEVCO charged the commission for bringing liquor bottles to its outlets from the warehouses.
Confederation general secretary Vinod Giri had then said that the government's offer of giving priority to brands of the companies which offer 25 percent of commission was an infringement on the right of consumers to choose their favourite brands.
Also it was reported even the shortage of glass bottles had impacted production recently.
BEVCO or the Kerala State Beverages (Manufacturing & Marketing) Corporation Ltd is the state-run firm that has monopoly in the procurement and sales of liquor, particularly Indian Made Foreign Liquor and beer, in Kerala.
