Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise announcement to invalidate old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes may or may not eradicate black money, but has surely impacted liquor sales in Tamil Nadu.
The Hindu reported that the demonetisation of old Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes caused a dent of 10-15% in the state-owned TASMAC sales across the state.
“The footfalls were also minimal at our outlet,” the supervisor of a TASMAC outlet in Guindy told the newspaper on Thursday saying that the sales dropped by 18%.
The report says that the picture was similar in TASMAC shops at Anna Nagar, Chepauk, Anna Salai, Tambaram and Ambattur.
“The customers who come here are daily-wage workers. They were cautious about drinking today. Some had an argument at the counter when we refused to accept the Rs. 500 notes,” said the sales manager of in T Nagar.
The Times of India reporting on the same issue quoted TASMAC officials saying that the Coimbatore district alone suffered a loss in revenue in the tune of Rs 1 crore.
Officials said that sales in Coimbatore North alone dropped by Rs 2.72 crore. The figure for Coimbatore South stood at Rs 1.50 crore on Wednesday.
"We expect the sales to go down in the coming week," an officer told TOI.