How Welfare Schemes May Be Easing Liquor Regulation

If states want to fund welfare schemes, liquor tax is the low-hanging fruit as UP has shown

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In what now seems like a blatant act of sexism, Bertie was allotted automobile, cigarette and alcohol companies in his first job as an investment analyst, while his lady colleague took charge of consumer staples and retailers. Bertie had to struggle through the labyrinth of liquor regulation that changed with every state, but his colleague quickly mastered the regulatory architecture of selling soaps. On top of that, he had to answer questions from his seniors about how many bottles of what alcohol should they bring back from Goa in order to maximize their personal return on company travel; something he was sure wasn't asked being about soaps or hair oil.

But the hard work seemed to have paid off when in a recent meeting with an alcohol company, the CFO complimented Bertie's understanding of the sector. "Purane bevde lagte ho aap" (You seem to be a seasoned drunkard)," he had said, pleasing Bertie. The CFO then highlighted the trend of easing liquor regulations with Uttar Pradesh (UP) being the poster boy of change. Bertie later looked up the numbers and was surprised to find that excise revenue from liquor had grown threefold within seven years.