High cost of cheap liquor: Why hooch stays in demand in Punjab?

The recent deaths due to illegal hooch consumed in many parts of Punjab and its increasing use by the poor hints at the government’s flaw in ensuring cheap liquor to the people of the state. With the liquor prices skyrocketing in the past over a decade, a poor man is left with no choice, but to spend less than Rs 100 an evening to get high.

A senior excise official said that with the state eyeing higher revenue, somewhere it has forgotten its commitment to the poorest in the state who is hooked to liquor and earns the lowest. “For such persons, hooch or homemade liquor is an easy and cheap manner to get intoxicated," he stated.

Information gathered by The Tribune reveals that a bottle of beer in Punjab is not less than Rs 200 per bottle while Punjab Medium Liquor brands start anywhere between Rs 275 to Rs 290 per bottle while the lowest grade whiskey starts from Rs 410 per bottle.

“See there are no lessons learnt and every government continues to fill its coffers, forgetting about the common man who cannot spend for his evening drink. A ban on liquor is the need of the hour and its strict implementation is the key”, says Amarjit Singh Mann, a social activist from Sangrur who runs an NGO Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, which has been seeking a ban on liquor.

Interestingly earlier this year, the Punjab government boasting to increase its excise revenue approved the Excise Policy for 2025-26, aiming to generate Rs 11,020 crore as excise revenue, an increase of Rs 874.05 crore (8.61 per cent) over the previous financial year’s target.

A liquor contractor explains: “In 2000, a daily-wager would on an average earn Rs 300-350. He could get high spending Rs 30 on half a bottle of Punjab medium liquor. With successive governments eyeing increase in revenue and amplified political greed, the liquor contractors were left with no alternative but to increase prices. Today, when the daily-wagers earn Rs 550 to 600, a liquor bottle costs anything around Rs 300. Such pricing opens doors for experimenting with cheap country-made liquor, often called moonlight or hooch.”

“Bootleggers cater to a perpetual demand for cheap alcohol among habitual users and addicts, and the illicit industry thrives only because law enforcers at the local level allow it to", says a former IPS officer. “Haftas (weekly bribes) are taken for letting illegal brewing joints operate and raids are only conducted when there is pressure from the top. A crackdown is always possible if they want to, but this is a very lucrative business with a very high turnover,” he points out.

Punjab