Chandigarh administration auctions 11 more liquor vends, earns Rs 32 crore

CHANDIGARH: Eleven liquor vends were auctioned in the second round of e-tendering by the UT excise and taxation department on Monday.
The department had received 23 bids for 11 liquor vends, earning a revenue of Rs 34.22 crore against Rs 27.82 crore reserve price with an increase of 23%.
On June 23, the department had earned a revenue of Rs 265.32 crore from the auction of 78 liquor vends. The highest bid of Rs 7.56 crore for liquor vend at Sector 9 internal market was made by Bajaj group.
In total, the department had earned a revenue of Rs 299.54 crore from 89 liquor vends.
The new excise policy will come into effect from July 1.
Under the new policy, excise levies on country liquor have not been increased and levies on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) have been increased by 10%. To promote low alcoholic contents beverages, beer, wine and particularly to boost Indian wine industry, the licence fee has not been increased and kept at Rs 12,000 for the whole year. Further, the label registration fee of wine has been reduced from Rs 10,000 per brand to Rs 7,500 per brand.
The policy further stated that the excise duty of microbrewery has not been increased.