Shares of liquor firms tumble on alcohol ban in Bihar

Mumbai: Shares of liquor companies on Thursday plunged as much as 8 percent after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a ban on liquor in the state.

Shares of United Spirits settled at Rs 3,211.45 on BSE, down 4.74 percent. Radico Khaitan went down by 6.92 percent to close at Rs 114.25.

While Pincon Spirit closed at Rs 101.75, down 2.02 percent, Som Distilleries at Rs 189.30, down 0.05 percent.

However, bunking the trend United Breweries went marginally up by 0.13 percent to close at Rs 958.65.

Fulfilling his poll promise, Nitish Kumar today announced the ban of alcohol in Bihar from April 1 next year.

"I had made a promise that if my government returns to power we will impose prohibition. The government is committed to fulfil its promise," he told a function on Excise Day in Patna.

Bihar earns a revenue of Rs 400 crore annually from liquor sale.

Kumar directed Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and Principal Secretary Excise K K Pathak to start working on a new excise police to ban liquor in the state from April 1.