The Kerala State Beverages (Marketing & Manufacturing) Corporation Limited (BEVCO) has pitched a proposal for home-delivery of liquor via online sale in the state. BEVCO has persisted with the proposal, although the state government has repeatedly ruled out any move to amend the Abkari Act to facilitate online sale of liquor in Kerala.

The proposal was submitted to the Department of Excise by the BEVCO MD, Harshita Attaluri, in July. Attaluri said that BEVCO received a project proposal from food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy for online delivery of liquor. "If the government approves the proposal, we will initiate a tender process, and whoever bids the lowest amount will be awarded the bid. As per the proposal, a person who has attained 23 years can place an order for liquor. The ID will be checked to ascertain the age. All types of products available in our outlets will be sold online as well," Attaluri told Onmanorama.

The key reason behind the proposal is to avoid crowding in retail outlets. Lengthy queues in front of liquor shops are a common sight in Kerala, which also leads to traffic congestion. Unlike in states like Tamil Nadu, which has 4700 shops, we have only 283 outlets in Kerala. This leads to crowding. Once online sales become active, a significant portion of this crowd will be redirected to the online sales platform. This will considerably reduce congestion in front of outlets," Attaluri said.

BEVCO also hopes that home delivery will jack up sales revenue. In 2024-25, the sales revenue was ₹19,700 crore, and in the previous fiscal, it was ₹19,050 crore. "We expect this revenue to increase phenomenally with online sales," said Attaluri. Excise department officials with the Abkari section said that the proposal was earlier considered and rejected.

"The sale of liquor is governed by Foreign Liquor rules 1953. If online sales are to be introduced in the state, proper amendments have to be made in the act, and rules have to be notified accordingly. It needs to be approved by the state government," an Excise Official said. During the time of COVID-19, the state government had introduced online sale of liquor through a virtual queue system. An application was also developed for the same.

BEVCO manages the sale and distribution of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL), Beer, Wine, foreign-made foreign liquor (FMFL) and foreign-made wine (FMW) in Kerala. It has 26 warehouses and 283 retail outlets throughout Kerala. Out of these shops, 155 outlets have self-service/premium counter facilities. Liquor sales are one of the major sources of tax revenue for the state government. The tax revenue from liquor soared from ₹8778.29 crore in 2016-17 to ₹15170.82 crore in 2023-24.