Delhi collected ₹5,000 crore tax from liquor sales, but milk generated less than ₹200 crore GST: Govt data

Delhi collected over ₹5,000 crore taxes from liquor sales during the ongoing financial year, the newly-elected BJP government told the Assembly. The national capital also sold nearly 6 lakh litres of alcohol per day during 2023-24, the government informed.

The government was responding to a question asked by BJP MLA Abhay Verma, according to a report by NDTV. Here is what it said.

Delhi liquor sales: ₹5,000 crore tax collected

In its reply to Verma, the Delhi government said that it had earned a revenue of ₹5,068.92 crore from excise duty and VAT (value added tax) from liquor sales in Delhi during the financial year 2024-25. This revenue was generated till February 2025.

The new Delhi government, led by the BJP and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, reported that the erstwhile Arvind Kejriwal government earned ₹5,164 crore in taxes on Delhi liquor sales in FY2023-24. Meanwhile, a revenue of ₹5,547 crore was generated from liquor sales in FY2022-23 and ₹5,487 crore in FY2021-22.

The revelation of the data on liquor sales in Delhi comes at a time when the BJP is repeatedly criticising the Aam Aadmi Party government over the alleged liquor policy scam. AAP supremo and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was jailed in connection with the alleged scam, along with his deputy Manish Sisodia. Both leaders were granted bail later.

However, the Delhi liquor policy scam played a pivotal role in Delhi Assembly election 2025 and was instrumental in paving the way for the BJP to win the polls.

The new Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government told the House that only private shops were permitted to sell alcohol in Delhi under AAP's new liquor policy that was implemented from November 2021 to August 2022. Following the scrapping of the policy in September 2022 and the return of the old liquor policy, government liquor stores were permitted to operate.

6 lakh litre alcohol sold each day

In 2023-24, Delhi sold 21.27 crore litres of alcohol. This translates to alcohol sales of 5.82 lakh litres per day. In contrast, 25.84 crore litres of alcohol was sold in the national capital in 2022-23.

Delhi milk sales: ₹210 crore tax collected

In sharp contrast, milk and milk products contributed to a revenue of just ₹210 in FY25 despite being a widely consumed commodity in Delhi.

The government told the Assembly that it had earned a total tax of ₹209.9 crore from GST (goods and services tax) from the sales of milk and milk products in the current financial year till February.

This was a decline in tax collection from FY24, when the government earned about ₹300 crore from the sale of milk in 2023-24. The figure was around ₹365 crore in 2022-23.