Yogi govt sees 74% jump in liquor revenue; earnings up over 100% in 4 years

In the past four years of the Yogi government, a total of 2,076 new liquor shops got a licence, and the state saw a 74 per cent jump in revenue through liquor, an RTI has revealed. A significant chunk of revenue -- around 10 per cent -- for the state comes from excise duty on liquor.

In the financial year 2020-21, UP earned Rs 30,061 crore from excise duty and licence fee from the liquor shops, the RTI stated.

In the past four years alone, from April 2017 to March 2021, the revenue from liquor almost doubled from Rs 17,320 crore to Rs 30,061 crore. This means each liquor shop on average provides an annual revenue of Rs 1.10 crore to the government.

The excise department of the Uttar Pradesh government, in its RTI response to India Today, said that in the four years of the Yogi Adityanath government, between the financial years 2017-18 and 2020-2021, 2,076 new liquor shops got a licence.

These licences spread across the four different kinds of permitted retails shops -- Indian liquor, foreign liquor, beer shops and model shops.

That's not it, UP saw a 74 per cent jump in revenue in the four years. Revenue went up from Rs 17,320 crore to Rs 30,061 crore in this period, an increase of Rs 12,741 crore.

During the five-year tenure of the previous government led by Akhilesh Yadav, from FY13 to FY17, 2,566 new liquor shops got licences.

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The state government's revenue went up from Rs 22,377 crore to Rs 24,943 crore, around an 11.5 per cent increase.

His predecessor and BSP chief Mayawati allowed 3,621 liquor shops to be opened during her tenure from 2007-12. In FY08, there were 17,287 shops, which increased to 20,908 by FY12. The government's income from liquor rose 106 per cent from Rs 3,948 crore to Rs 8,139 crore.

On average, the Yogi and Akhilesh governments allowed 500 liquor shops each during their respective tenures, while the average liquor shops opened during the Mayawati regime went up to 724 licences per year.

The RTI reveals that in the past decade and a half, the government revenue has seen a jump of 269 per cent, from Rs 8,139 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 30,061 crore in 2020-21.

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