Officials of the excise department cite increase in liquor prices under the new excise policy that came into effect from May 10, as one of the reasons for increased revenue this year. (Representational image) Haryana government has registered a growth of over Rs 100 crore in excise revenue from liquor sales this financial year till October 31. It is expecting to record Rs 400 crore increase in the revenue at the end of the excise year in June 2022.
According to state excise department, the collection for the year 2021-22 (from April 1 till October 31) is Rs 4701.50 crore compared to Rs 3796.45 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Maximum Rs 1150.44 crore revenue was recorded in June this year, which is nearly double of Rs 586.32 crore in the previous year.
The figures reveal that in 2020-21, the collection was Rs 114.71 crore in April, Rs 669.35 crore in May, Rs 611.89 crore in July, Rs 592.41 crore in August, Rs 593.94 crore in September and Rs 627.83 crore in October.
However, this year, the collections were Rs 410.9 crore in April, Rs 397.7 crore in May, Rs 804.3 crore in July, Rs 686.72 crore in August, Rs 606.47 crore in September and Rs 644.97 crore in October.
Talking to The Indian Express, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the excise portfolio, said, “The last review of the collections was done in October. The tax structure, the new excise policy and the amendments that we made in the law have helped stop the leakages that used to happen earlier”.
“Last year, we collected Rs 6600 crore in revenue. Thus time we are aiming for Rs 7,000 crore,” Chautala said, adding the target is for the period June 2021 to June 2022.
Officials of the excise department cite increase in liquor prices under the new excise policy that came into effect from May 10, as one of the reasons for increased revenue this year. However, due to Covid-19, the government also offered numerous rebates on liquor. The new policy also saw increase in wholesale liquor license fee, excise duty, permit fee, import duty and brand label fee.
As per the new policy, while the excise duty on wine and draught beer remained unchanged, the duty on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) was increased to 20 per cent, while the wholesale liquor license fee was increased by 25 per cent.
Similarly, for IMFL, license fee was increased from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore.
While retail liquor licensee fee for bars and restaurants remained unchanged at Rs 18 lakh, the establishments were also allowed to operate until 6 am instead of 3 am with an additional payment of Rs 20 lakh. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the timings remained affected during most of the months.
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