The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) is a company owned by the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

, which has a monopoly over wholesale and retail vending of alcoholic beverages in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. It controls the

Indian Made Foreign Liquor Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) is the official term used by governments, businesses and media in India to refer to all types of liquor manufactured in the country other than indigenous alcoholic beverages such as feni, toddy, arrack and others ...

(IMFL) trade in the state.

History

TASMAC was established in 1983 by then Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran. The state has a long history of

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, first implemented partially in 1937 by the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

government of

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

. Between 1973 and 2001, it was lifted briefly during 1971–74, 1981–87 and 1990–91. After 1983, TASMAC was in charge of wholesale liquor sales in the state whenever prohibition was lifted. In 2001, prohibition was lifted again and TASMAC became the wholesale monopoly for alcohol. For retail vending, the state auctioned off licenses for running liquor shops and bars. But this led to the formation of cartels and loss of revenue to the state. The government tried to counter this by introducing a lot system from the financial year 2001–02, where potential bidders bid for shops grouped by revenue. But the lot system could not prevent cartelisation, as bidders later withdrew in favour of others. In October 2003, the government passed an amendment to the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, making TASMAC the sole retail vendor of alcohol in the state. By 2004 all private outlets selling alcohol were either shut down or taken over by the company. This monopoly established by the

AIADMK The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory) ...

government of

J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

came into effect on 29 November 2003. The DMK government of M. Karunanidhi which took power in 2006, did not revise its predecessor's policy and TASMAC continues to control the alcohol industry in the state.

Organisation

TASMAC is wholly owned by the government of Tamil Nadu, coming under the purview of the Ministry of Prohibition and Excise. Its headquarters is situated at the CMDA towers in

Egmore Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Madr ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. It is governed by a board whose members belong to the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS). The company organisation is divided territorially into five regions-

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

Trichy Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

and Salem each under a regional manager. These regions are further divided into 33

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

run by district managers. As of 2010, the company has around 30,000 employees and operates about 6800 retail liquor outlets throughout the state. Employees of TASMAC are not considered as government employees and are not entitled to the benefits and legal rights (like statutory pay, paid holidays and an 8-hour workday) of other employees of the state. The retail outlets do not have individual names. Instead they are named as "TASMAC Shop XXX", where XXX stands for the outlet number. They are popularly referred to as "wine shops", though they sell other kinds of liquor as well. About half the outlets have bars attached to them.

Impact

The reorganisation of retail alcohol trade in the state has brought record revenues for the government allowing it to increase spending on welfare schemes. While consumption of alcohol has increased among the population, deaths due to consumption of contaminated illicit liquor (common during the prohibition era) have gone down. The monopoly trade has led to widespread irregularities like adulteration, corruption, overpricing and black marketing in the retail outlets. It has also led to increased complaints about disturbances created by drunk patrons from residents in areas where the retail outlets are situated. High retail prices (due to a higher tax rate) and absence of a wide range of choices have led to a thriving alcohol tourism industry in the neighbouring union territory of

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

, where alcohol prices are lower and different brands are available. TASMAC has been forced to offer more choices of brands to counter the increase in smuggling of non-available alcohol brands into the state.

Growth

Since the take over by the government, TASMAC has seen an annual revenue of growth of around 20 percent every year. The turnover in 1983 (the year of incorporation) was 183 crores. In 2002–03 before the take over of retail vending, the turnover was 3,499.75 crores, out of which the government got a tax revenue of 2,828.09 crores. After the take over of retail vending, the tax revenue shot up to 3,639 crores in the financial year 2003–04. The tax revenue has two components –

excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

and

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

each constituting roughly 50% of the total. A large part of the tax revenue is accounted as profit for the state since it is both the wholesale and retail vendor and the difference in the prices goes directly to the state exchequer. In the following four financial years revenue increased to 4872, 6087, 7300 and 8822 Crore Rs respectively. In 2005–06, the 23-year-old record for alcohol sales revenue in the state was broken. The 10,000 crore (100 Billion) mark was reached in the financial year 2008–09, when the revenue was 10,601.5 crores. For the financial years 2009–10 and 2010–11 it stood at 12,491 and 14,965 Crores respectively. Besides the tax revenue, the company also makes money by selling annual licenses to run bars in its retail outlets. The steady growth in revenue is accounted for by the periodical increase in retail prices and by increasing alcohol consumption in the state. Hard liquors like

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden cask ...

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

and

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...

account for about 80% of the sales and beer accounts for the remaining 20%. The revenue nearly doubled from 18,081 crores in 2011 to 31,157 crores in 2019.

References

External links