The prices of liquor are expected to increase by five to ten per cent in the State from April 1 due to an increase in licence and application fees for liquor manufacturers, suppliers and retailers.
The new Excise Policy for 2023-24, announced on Thursday, also includes a marginal increase in the excise duty for Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and minimum guarantee quota (MGQ), which is likely to increase the retail alcohol costs.
The new policy would not grant licences for new liquor off-shops during the year, but it would allow for the renewal of licences for existing shops. Moreover, applications for opening on-shops in rural areas would also not be accepted.
Besides, the Excise policy has allowed opening of beach shacks for taking liquor in the State to promote tourism. However, the licence for these shacks would only be granted to the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) and not to any private operator.
The shacks can be opened near different water bodies such as rivers, lakes and dams apart from sea beaches. The beach shack licence would be considered a special category of ‘restaurant ‘ON’ licence and the OTDC would have to decide on the operators for the beach shacks through an appropriate method. The OTDC, as the licensee, would be responsible for ensuring compliance with all procedures.
The application fee for new or renewal of off-shops has been increased from Rs 1.1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh. The MGQ and retailer fees have also been increased while the annual composite label registration fee for FL off-shops and FL on-shops for sale of all brands has been fixed at Rs 50,000, up from the previous amount of Rs 40,000.