Queues and chaos at many Tasmac outlets amid ₹10 price hike, rumors of store closures in Tamil Nadu

A Tasmac outlet in Koyambedu witnessed long queues as fake news spread on social media on Monday about uncertainty regarding the functioning of liquor outlets. | Photo credit: B. Velankanni Raj

Despite the rain on Monday (November 2, 2026), hundreds of tipplers queued up for hours at Tasmac outlets across Chennai and neighboring districts, fearing that more liquor shops might down their shutters. Shopkeepers at many outlets said they were struggling to control the restless crowd.

On Sunday (November 1), many Tasmac stores pulled down their shutters without informing management. The reason: Tasmac had last week said it would increase the maximum retail price (MRP) of all liquor variants in the state by ₹10 with effect from November 1 by adding an environmental cess to the existing price. And tipplers can get back that ₹10 by returning empty liquor bottles.

“We were given very little time to adjust to these two changes. We were informed only two days ago. Some bottles did not have updated price stickers. It was very difficult for us to scan them for the new rates,” said a Tasmac dealer in Vadapalani. He added that there were technical glitches and the POS machines and scanners provided to them were not working properly.

“There is no place to store empty bottles”

A vendor in T. Nagar said there was no place at the outlet to store the empty bottles. “We have almost no standing room and where we will store empty bottles. They should have analyzed the space in each store before they announced this,” he added.

On Monday night, the crowd began to grow as fake news spread on social media about the uncertainty surrounding the operation of liquor stores.

With Deepavali just a few days away, tipplers were worried about whether they would be able to stock up for the weekend. Tasmac, the cash cow of the Tamil Nadu government, witnesses peak sales during Deepavali, Pongal and New Year.

Tasmac also suspended its workers in Tamil Nadu who were responsible for closing shop on Sunday and Monday.

As of July 2026, Tasmac has 4,048 retail stores and 22,877 employees (6,473 supervisors, 14,379 salespeople and 2,025 assistant salespeople). For the year 2025–26, Tasmac earned ₹50,845 crore.

As #TASMAC employees continued their protest and kept several liquor shops across #TamilNadu closed, massive crowd and long queues were witnessed at #Chennai’s #Koyambedu shop on Monday amid #rains. 📹: B. Velankanni Raj (@VelankanniRaj6) / The Hindu https://t.co/LmT56m14OV

— The Hindu – Chennai (@THChennai) November 2, 2026

Published – 03 Nov 2026 05:00 IST