Thanks to its ill-conceived excise policy, the UT administration failed to improve its revenue generation during current fiscal 2013-14 as compared to previous fiscal 2012-13.
As per the data with UT Excise and Taxation Department, the revenue generation till March during fiscal 2013-14 is Rs227.08 crore and the department is expecting the total revenue generation to reach Rs250 crore this financial year, which ends on April 30.
During previous fiscal 2012-13, the revenue collection was Rs250. 46 crore and it was Rs223.15 crore till March 2013.
As per the data, the revenue collection which was Rs133.74 crore in 2009-10 climbed up to Rs142 crore in fiscal 2010-11 and Rs231.86 crore in fiscal 2011-12. It was in financial year 2011-12 that the excise collection had crossed Rs200 crore for the first time in the city.
Meanwhile, the lukewarm response to the auction of liquor vends last year is seen as a major reason for low revenue generation this fiscal year. While the UT Excise department managed to collect Rs152.18 crore through auction of liquor vends in fiscal 2012-13, the revenue generation through auction dropped to Rs106.17 crore in financial year 2013-14.
According to the UT officials, the UT Administration had to bear financial loss due to the removal of pre-fabricated liquor vends. Also, with many liquor vends remaining unsold, the total revenue generation is unlikely to cross the last year’s figures of
Rs250.46 crore.
During first auction of liquor vends last year, over 52 per cent (114) out of the total 217 liquor vends went unsold. later, few more liquor vends were auctioned but more than 80 vends remained unsold. Not a single bid was received for as many as 70 liquor vends while about 17 vendors had surrendered their liquor vends after they failed to pay 30 per cent of the bid amount within the stipulated period of time.
The higher cost of liquor, higher excise duty, higher licence fee for allotment of liquor vends remained the major factors affecting revenue generation this fiscal year.
In its excise policy 2013-14, the UT Administration had increased the excise duty from 20 per cent to 300 per cent and assessment fee by 33 per cent. later, the Administration had reduced the reserve price of vends but failed to attract bidders.
Now, after paying dearly for its ill-conceived excise policy, the UT Administration is contemplating major changes in its excise policy for next financial year 2014-15.
A senior official of the UT Administration said, “The UT Excise department is framing the Excise Policy and we are likely to bring in some changes in the policy to increase revenue generation.”
He said, “The revenue generation was low this time as many liquor vends remained unsold. The UT Administration is likely to bring liquor rates on par with those of Punjab and Haryana. Besides, it is deliberated to bring in changes in assessment fee, excise duty among other major components to increase revenue generation.”
Chandigarh, which was earlier seen in the league of top liquor guzzling cities, has witnessed a surprising fall in liquor consumption in the previous three years. In the last two fiscal years, the licence fee, excise duty, permit fee, import fee, assessment fee on liquor was enhanced in Chandigarh.
Notably, the new excise policy of Punjab Government came into force from April 1, in which the State Government reduced the rates of
liquor, putting pressure on the UT Administration to follow the suit.
The Union Territory of Chandigarh has 217 liquor vends including 152 Indian made foreign liquor vends and 65 country liquor vends.
After the Excise Policy 2013-14 came into force, the UT Administration was forced to remove 28 pre-fabricated structures on the
directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which were issued in 2012.