liquor will be costlier in Haryana by upto 15 per cent as the State Government has announced to increase the value-added tax on the sale of liquor while unveiling the excise policy for fiscal 2017-18.
Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu on Sunday announced the state’s excise policy for 2017-18, which retains the same quota and number of retail outlets for Country made liquor (Cl) and Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFl) as is in the current financial year.
The Department has accepted resolutions of 185 gram panchayats for closure of liquor vends, hence no liquor vend will be opened in their respective areas next fiscal year. last year, only five such resolutions for closure of liquor vends were accepted, said the Finance Minister while addressing a press conference here.
Giving details of the new excise policy, Capt. Abhimanyu said that VAT rates on liquor have been revised from flat existing 10 per cent plus surcharge at the rate of five per cent. The VAT for Cl has been kept at 13 per cent plus surcharge at the rate of five per cent. For Beer, it would be 13.5 per cent plus surcharge at the rate of five per cent while for IMFl, it is kept at 14 per cent plus surcharge at the rate of five per cent.”
He said that the duty on Cl and IMFl has also been rationalized and certain new categories have been introduced for the purpose of duty. The rate of excise duty on Cl has been increased from Rs 20 per proof liter to Rs 28 per Pl. Duty on IMFl ranged from Rs 40 to Rs 70 per Pl on four categories of IMFl. These rates have been revised in the range of Rs 45 per Pl to Rs 200 per Pl on seven categories depending upon the Ex Distillery Price, he said.
Rates of duty on Beer were in the range of Rs 25 to Rs 40 per Bl which have now been fixed at in the range from Rs 31 per Bl to Rs 36 per Bl. Similarly. the rate of duty on Wine has been fixed at Rs 10 per Bl whereas it was Rs three and Rs four per Bl earlier, he said.
About the number of liquor vends, Capt. Abhimanyu said that there can be a maximum of 3500 retail outlets of Cl and IMFl in the state for the year 2017-18. The quota of Country liquor and IMFl has been retained at 950 lakh Pl and 550 lakh Pl respectively.
He said that quota transfer fee has been reduced from Rs nine per Pl in case of Cl and from Rs 20 Pl to Rs six per Pl in case of IMFl.
The Minister said that for the year 2017-18, the allotment of liquor vends would be made on the basis of zones in a shift from allotment on the basis of group of vends in the previous year. The zones will comprise of six retail vends wherein the allottee will have a freedom and flexibility to locate his vend within his zone subject to the legal provisions and
About the directions of the Supreme Court that no liquor shop shall be located within a distance of 500 meters from national and state highways, the Minister said that as result of this decision, about 500 retail vends would be relocated to other places.
The bars and pubs will continue to function as the directions of the SC do not apply to them, he said.
Further, to plug the menace of bootlegging, two sub-vends per zone have been permitted in the urban area for the first time against a fixed fee of Rs 10 lakh per sub-vend, said the Minister.
Apart from this, with a view to check the illegal sale and smuggling of liquor in the state, an Enforcement Wing would be set up by the Department. It has also been made mandatory for the licensees to issue bill for each sale above Rs 1000, and in case of sale of lesser amount, they will have to issue bill if the customer so desires, said the Minister.
He said that annual license fee of the bars has been increased from Rs 12.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh in case of Gurugram, Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh in case of Faridabad and Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs nine lakh in other districts of the state.
Capt. Abhimanyu said that for the first time, government has decided to put to auction by way of inviting bids for wholesale license of supply of Imported Foreign liquor (bottled in origin) in Haryana to tap the optimum potential of Government revenue.
The government has also rationalized the duty on supply of liquor through Canteen Stores Department by tapping the huge gap as compared to the neighbouring Punjab, he said.
When asked about the expected revenue generation from the new excise policy, the Minister said that a target of revenue generation of Rs 4900 crore was fixed for 2016-17, which is likely to be achieved by the end of this fiscal year. We expect revenue generation of more than Rs 5500 crore for the next fiscal year, he added.