Coronavirus lockdown sends prices of grey-market alcohol soaring

Higher availability of disposable income and a burgeoning urban population has led to an increase in alcohol consumption in India over recent years

Amid nationwide lockdown in the country, aimed at checcking the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, alcohol prices in the country's grey market have more than quadrupled and online searches for how to make homemade alcohol have soared, with bars and liquor stores shut for weeks across most parts of the country.

Customs and police officials, who have seen a marked increase in seizures of hooch, said that, many were turning to illegal liquor, which has in the past claimed thousands of lives among the poor unable to afford branded booze.

"I paid Rs 700 ($9) for a Rs 170 whisky bottle," said