New Delhi: The central government has suffered revenue losses to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore as liquor sales were stalled for one month due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The Centre had earned a revenue of Rs 2.48 lakh crore as excise duty from liquor sales last year, as per the data with the International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI). The revenue earned was pegged at Rs 2.17 lakh crore in 2018, while Rs 1.99 lakh crore in 2017.
The states too suffered huge losses due to shutting down of liquor outlets during the lockdown days. Karnataka suffered a loss of Rs 2,050 crore, with a daily estimate of Rs 50 crore. Tamil Nadu registered a daily loss of Rs 90 crore.
The Delhi government, that had recorded an annual revenue of Rs 5,000 crore from liquor sales, suffered Rs 500 crore loss during the lockdown.
As the country is facing an acute financial crisis, the government has given the nod for liquor sales. The Punjab and Karnataka governments had approached the Centre, seeking permission to resume liquor sales. After Delhi government also took up the issue, the relaxations were extended to the red zone as well.
A total of 70,000 liquor outlets in the country is likely to resume function on Monday.
Seventy per cent of the liquor sale in the country is through outlets and the rest is via bars, pubs, hotels and restaurant.
Drastic drop in GST revenues
A drastic drop in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue has caused the government to defer the release of the data on April GST collection, according to sources in the Finance Ministry.
The GST return which was to be filed by April 20, was extended till May 5 and this was given as the reason for deferring the data release.
Those with a turnover of Rs 5 crore were to file the March returns within April 20. However, this was extended due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The data on the GST collections is likely to be out in the coming days. The GST revenue from last month could be less than Rs 40,000 crore, according to sources. Last year, one lakh crore was the average monthly earnings.
The GST revenue was at Rs 97,597 crore in March, while the objective was to achieve Rs 1.25 lakh crore. The nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25.
Only some sectors such as telecom and pharmaceuticals have not been affected by the crisis, while sectors such as automobiles are likely to register a much lower revenue compared to last month.
