Prices will not increase in UP, revenue will: Commissioner clarifies on New State Excise policy

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 20 : With the implementation of the New Excise Policy of the Uttar Pradesh government, not only will the prices of country-made liquor come down in the state, but the government treasury will also be enriched.
In an official statement issued on Wednesday, State Excise Commissioner Senthil Pandian C, while clarifying the new policy, said that various categories of country-made liquor in the state have been done away with and now only four categories remain.
Earlier, there were nine categories of country-made liquor and their prices were also different. He said that the biggest reason for reducing the prices of liquor is to promote grain alcohol in UP. Due to this, the state's dependence on other states has ended and the revenue is also increasing, he pointed out.
According to the Excise Commissioner, the government is promoting grain liquor instead of molasses liquor as grain alcohol is considered to be of the highest quality throughout the world.
"Earlier we had to import grain alcohol from states like Punjab and Haryana, whereas now it is being manufactured in the state itself. Thus, not only import duty is being saved, GST is also reduced. Besides fixing the license fee at Rs 254 per bulk litre, the government's revenue will increase", he remarked.
Apart from this, by increasing the minimum guarantee quota and minimum guarantee revenue by 10 per cent, the target is to achieve revenue of more than Rs 50,000 crore in 2024-25, he informed. Despite this, there will be no increase in the rate of liquor, rather the price of grain alcohol and 42.8-degree liquor of UPML, which was earlier available at Rs 90, will come down to Rs 85, he said.
"Furthermore, 36-degree liquor has been added as a new category in UPML liquor, the price of which has been kept at Rs 75. Apart from this, liquor containing molasses has also been kept in only two categories. In this, the price of 25 degree has been kept at Rs 50 and the price of 36 degree has been kept at Rs 70. There has been no change in their rates also. Along with this, for the first time, UPML's liquor will be made available in glass as well as tetra pack," the release stated.
He said that to increase the revenue, for the first time, the government has introduced a franchise fee so that top brands from all over the world can establish franchises with the distilleries of UP.
According to the Excise Commissioner, if the demand for any brand increases in the state and the capacity of the distilleries is exhausted, then for one year they will be allowed to increase bottling by purchasing liquor from outside with double the licence fee. This will not only increase the revenue of the state but bottlers/distillers will also not have to worry about setting up a new distillery. The beer export fee has also been reduced by 50 paise per litre so that Uttar Pradesh can be put in a stronger position in terms of beer export.
Along with this, various efforts have also been made to prevent misuse of the provisions of the prevailing system in the policy. It includes permission for the development of a space of 100 square feet near the beer shops as permit rooms where people will be able to drink. There will be an annual fee of Rs 5,000 for obtaining this permission. The biggest advantage of permit rooms will be that cold beer will be available near beer shops. This will prevent inconveniences caused to people due to drinking on the streets, as per the official release.