The Uttar Pradesh Excise department issued licences for setting up 12 distilleries, three breweries, 12 microbreweries and 97 sanitiser units across the state and gave approval to other licences, allowing investments of about Rs 6,545 crore, thereby paving the way for creation of 60,000 new jobs in the last four years and a half.
Additional Chief Secretary (Excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy said that ease of doing business and simplification of existing rules had resulted in the establishment of new industries and generation of new opportunities of investment.
"Establishment of new distilleries has helped in improving the financial condition of sugar mills, making it easier for them to clear the arrears of sugarcane farmers and also in generating additional employment. Ten new distilleries have been set up in the private sector which has increased the total installed capacity by 3,737 lakh litres and an investment of Rs 1,133 crore has been made in the state so far," he said.
The additional chief secretary said that three new breweries were going to be established in Sambhal, Sonbhadra and Barabanki. He said with the establishment of these units, beer production in the state would increase to 12.48 hectolitres and Rs 165 crore had already been invested by entrepreneurs in setting up these units.
The Excise department has also provided 12 licences for the establishment of microbreweries in Kanpur, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Meerut, Agra, Lucknow, Moradabad and Bareilly.
"An investment of about Rs 12 crore has been made the in the establishment of microbreweries. Efforts are being made by the Excise department to set up wineries in the state. Subtropical fruits like mango, jamun, peach are produced in abundance in Uttar Pradesh which can be used for the production of wine," Bhoosreddy said.