Beer lovers, this is definitely not good news to begin your year with. The Maharashtra government has agreed to the beer manufacturers’ demand of hiking the prices. And by hike, we do not mean a nominal hike but the prices will be five times more! This makes it the highest price for a beer bottle in the entire country. The beer supply in Mumbai along with other parts of the state will be normalized by December 28, 2017, after the agreement.

The Maharashtra government issued a notification which gives the price cap for different beers. For a strong beer the price can be hiked 4.6 times its production cost and for a mild beer, it could be 3.75 times. The current applicable limit is 4.25 times for a strong beer and 3.5 times for a mild one. So now the prices are going to go up. “The state government has accepted the demand of beer manufacturers to increase the MRP partially. The government has issued a notification to this effect and we now expect supplies to be normalised,” State Excise Commissioner Ashwini Joshi informed the media.

So as per the new prices, a 650ml bottle of a strong beer will cost almost Rs. 175 which is currently priced at Rs. 145. Likewise, a mild beer will cost somewhere Rs. 165 from the current rate of Rs. 140. Earlier in December, the beer supply was partially suspended as the government hiked the excise duty but there was no permission to increase the cost. This excise duty imposed is one of the state government’s initiatives to generate revenue to waive the Rs. 24,000 farm loan. The total demand for beer in Maharashtra for a month goes up to 17 lakh cases. Now with the new rates, the government will make an additional revenue of Rs. 100 crores through excise.

Well, now it is a thing to wonder if people’s demand for beer will now decrease or the true lovers would not mind paying a little extra. Tagged as the comfort drink for most, beer is not going to be the easily preferred drink anymore. So how about changing your drink with the new years?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2017 10:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).