WITH THE implementation of the new excise policy, the prices of country-made liquor in Uttar Pradesh would come down and the government’s revenue is expected to increase, officials said on Wednesday.
State Excise Commissioner Senthil Pandian C said a number of categories of country-made liquor in the state had been done away with and only four remain. “Earlier, these were nine categories of country made liquor and the prices of these were also different. The biggest reason for reducing the prices is to promote grain alcohol in UP. Due to this, the state’s dependence on other states has ended and the revenue is also increasing,” Pandian was quoted as saying in a statement released by the government on Wednesday.
According to Pandian, “The government is promoting grain liquor instead of molasses liquor as grain alcohol is considered to be of the highest quality throughout the world”. “Earlier, we had to import grain alcohol from states such as Punjab and Haryana, whereas now it is being manufactured in UP. Thus, import duty is being saved. Good & Services Tax (GST) is also reduced. And with licence fee fixed at Rs 254 per bulk litre, the government’s revenue will increase”, he said.
“Apart from this, by increasing the minimum guarantee quota and minimum guarantee revenue by 10 per cent, the target in 2024-25 is to achieve more than Rs 50,000 crore in revenue,” he informed. “Despite this, there will be no increase in the rate of liquor, rather the price of grain alcohol and 42.8 degree liquor of UPML, which was earlier available at Rs 90, will come down to Rs 85,” he said.
“Also, 36 degree liquor has been added as a new category in Uttar Pradesh Made Liquor (UPML) the price of which has been kept at Rs 75. Apart from this, liquor containing molasses have also been kept in only two categories. In this, the price of 25 degree has been kept at Rs 50 and the price of 36 degree has been kept at Rs 70. There has been no change in their rates. Along with this, for the first time, UPML’s liquor will be made available in glass as well as tetra pack,” added Pandian.
He said that to increase the revenue, for the first time the government has introduced franchise fee, so that top brands from across the world can establish franchises with the distilleries of UP.
“If the demand for any brand increases in the state and the capacity of the distilleries is exhausted, then for one year they will be allowed to increase bottling by purchasing liquor from outside with double the licence fee. This will not only increase the revenue of the state, bottlers/distillers will also not have to worry about setting up a new distillery. Beer export fee has also been reduced by 50 paise a litre, so that Uttar Pradesh can be put in a stronger position in terms of beer export,” he said.
Permit rooms proposed
The new excise policy also includes provisions for permission to develop a space of 100 square ft near beer shops as “permit rooms”, where people will be allowed to drink. “There will be an annual fee of Rs 5,000 for obtaining this permission. The biggest advantage of permit rooms will be that chilled beer will be available near beer shops. This will prevent inconvenience caused to people due to drinking on streets,” said an official.
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