Pramod Thomas By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Kerala accounts for 14 per cent liquor consumption in India. Ever since the Supreme Court ordered a ban on the sale of alcohol in restaurants, hotels and liquor outlets within 500 metres from national and state highways, the state has been brewing options to beat the order. In a novel initiative, Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), the state-owned entity which sells liquor, now plans to take the ‘shopping mall’ route to regain lost sales. The first such outlet of KSBC will be opened soon at Sobha City mall in Thrissur district. The facility will focus only on selling premium brands.

“We have plans to open more such outlets at shopping malls across the state where the ‘distance rule’ permits. The corporation is in the process of identifying such malls in Kerala to open liquor outlets,” H Venkatesh, managing director, Kerala State Beverages Corporation (KSBC), told Express. However, he said, KSBC has no immediate plans to supply liquor through super markets. The move assumes significance as the state has 50 shopping malls and 20-25 malls satisfy the distance rule. Liquor sales were at 201 lakh cases worth Rs 11,577 crore during 2015-16.

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala along with Arunachal Pradesh and Assam make frequent appearances in the National Sample Survey Office data on states that consume the maximum amount of toddy, beer, foreign liquor and wine across rural and urban centres.

India is expected to be the second-fastest growth, after China, with the size of the Indian spirits market growing to almost 390 million nine-litre cases in 2018 from 301 million cases in 2012. The Indian Made Foreign Liquor segment alone is estimated to be valued at Rs 3 lakh crore by 2026.

“Liquor through shopping mall is an innovative business idea in the wake of the Supreme Court order. But, only malls which are in the interior area of the state will be benefited from this. In cities, malls are either near NH or a state highway,” said a mall manager in Kochi.

Johnson Edayaranmula, director, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre-India says that no law in India prevents states from opening liquor outlets in shopping malls. “Moves like this will be seen from other states as well in order to defeat the SC order, in the near future. India is a highly potential market as only 11 per cent of the total population in the country consume alcohol. Since Americas and Europe have already reached saturation point global liquor giants eye the country to boost sales.”