Thursday, 06 MARCH 2025 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The efforts of the Uttarakhand government to attract investors to set up distilleries, breweries and bottling plants in the State has started yielding positive results. The government is encouraging ethanol production in the State by reducing the export duty on it. The Commissioner excise, HC Semwal told The Pioneer that a total of 7,93,489 boxes of foreign category liquor, 1,88,000 boxes of beer ( can, 500 ml) and 18,000 boxes of beer ( bottle, 650 ml) were exported from the State last year. He said that the department’s objective is to attract domestic and foreign investment in country and foreign liquor and to keep the process of allotment of shops transparent and impartial. He said that after the creation of the State the allotment of liquor shops was done by the process of lottery and by renewal of the existing licences. In the financial year 2023-24 and 2024-25 the liquor shops were allotted by following the process of renewal of the licences. Semwal said that in the year 2023-24, the department achieved 100 per cent of the target ( Rs 4038 crores) and by 2024-25 the department has earned a revenue of Rs 4,000 crore till February 2025. The government had set a revenue target of rs 4439 crore for the excise department in the year 2024-25. The commissioner said that in view of the achievements of the department the government has set up a target of Rs 5,060 crore for the year 2025-26 which is 14 per cent higher than the target of the previous year.
The commissioner said that in a decision aimed at reducing the menace of overpricing of liquor, the State government has made a provision of suspending the licence of the shops involved in overpricing in the new excise policy. In the new policy, the sale of the liquor will be strictly prohibited in the vicinity of temples. The provision of opening of sub shops and metro liquor has also been dispensed away in the new policy.
Semwal added that for increasing self-employment opportunities in the mountainous areas of the State the government has decided to exempt the winery units set up by local people from excise duty for next 15 years in the new policy. He said that apart from creating employment opportunities the winery units will prove economically beneficial for farmers and horticulturists. Under the new policy, the State government has offered many concessions to the malt and spirit industries in the mountainous areas. The commissioner added that departmental stores will now be able to sell only the overseas liquor and the liquor produced in the State. The stores will now not be allowed to sell liquor above the MRP, he said.
