THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After recording great sales numbers during the football World Cup, Bevco is witnessing a similar trend for the Christmas days. Rs 282 crore worth of Indian-made foreign liquor was sold through retail outlets between December 22 and 25. This is a 12 crore (5 percent) increase over the same days last year. Rs 250 crores came as tax to the exchequer.

Excise's precise intervention has also yielded results. As the sale of illegal spurious liquor has been stopped, retail outlets in Wayanad and Idukki districts have seen sales like never before.

Rs 89.52 crore worth of liquor was sold on Christmas Day. Kollam Ashramam shop topped the list with sales of Rs 68.48 lakhs on Christmas eve, while Thiruvananthapuram Power House (Rs 65.07) and Thrissur Iringalakuda (Rs 61.49) shops came second and third.