It's a Happy Drinking Year for Tamil Nadu as the liquor outlets run by the state government-owned TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) have once again proved that they have been the highest revenue contributor to the state's coffers. Amid facing financial distress, the boozers in the state had managed to overwhelmingly fill the treasury as the TASMAC outlets had reported a record-high revenue in the last fiscal year. 

According to the government, the TASMAC liquor outlets had earned a revenue of Rs 33,811 crore during the last fiscal and it has been recorded as the highest-ever revenue of the TASMAC since the exclusive privilege of retail vending of Indian-made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) was granted in 2003. The TASMAC runs 5,402 retail outlets and 2,808 bars in the state and on Tuesday, the state government has announced a hike of Rs 500 to 25,000 Tasmac staff, including supervisors and salesmen, with effect from this April.

The largest revenue maker of the state had endured an unprecedented closure last year in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The outlets had faced a hard hit during the first wave of the pandemic as the previous ADMK government has shut down the outlets during the complete lockdown. The shops were later resumed and the state had witnessed the events where the boozers had thronged to the outlets to buy and stock up the liquor and in a policy note that was tabled in the assembly on Tuesday, the government has said that the TASMAC has earned Rs 7,907.61 crore in this fiscal up to July 31.

TASMAC enjoys a monopoly over wholesale and retail vending of alcoholic beverages in the state and it also controls the IMFL trade in Tamil Nadu. From 2002 to 2019, TASMAC's revenue had been in an upward direction and in the year 2018-19, it had earned the revenue of Rs 31,157 crore, which is nearly 9% higher than its preceding revenue. TASMAC employs around 29,200 employees and despite the reduction of outlets, TASMAC's revenue has been surging and it's a typical culture of TASMAC that it records more revenue at the time of festivals. 

On Tuesday, the assembly had witnessed a debate over the online sale of liquor. ADMK MLA Thangamani, who was the Minister of Prohibition and Excise in the previous ADMK regime, has urged the DMK government to reconsider its decision on online sales by highlighting a media report. He said that the online sales would affect society and responding to his statement, Thangamani's successor V Senthil Balaji has affirmed that there would be no online sale of liquor.