It’s raining money in liquor vends sale in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla: It’s raining money in Himachal Pradesh from liquor auctions.

The Congress government’s decision to go in for open auction of the retail liquor vends has fetched a record increase of 40 per cent to the state exchequer. Till now, during the BJP regime, the liquor retailers were allowed an increase of 10 per cent in the licence money instead of open auctions of the vends.

Making a suo-moto statement in the state assembly on Monday, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said the government will get more than Rs 520 crore as additional revenue during the financial year of 2023-24.

“I am happy to inform you that with a record increase of 40 per cent, the government will get an all-time high excise revenue of Rs 1,815 crore against Rs 1,296 crore last year. This is Vyvastha Parivartan” he declared. The CM said the government’s earlier policy of extending licences with a mere 10 per cent increase has caused a massive loss to the exchequer.

After coming to power, the government took a decision to auction the vends to ensure transparency in the excise policy. The chief minister said had the policy of renewal with 10 per cent increase been adopted this year also, there would have been a loss of Rs 370 crore in revenue. The facts clearly show that the state has suffered a big revenue loss in the excise business.

The overall excise revenue accruing to the state as per 2023-2024 year policy, the revenue was estimated at Rs 2,357 crore, but due to a 40 per cent increase in the allocation of retail shops, the revenue is estimated to be more than Rs 2,800 crore in this financial year.

The government has also decided to impose a milk cess of Rs 10 per bottle on liquor sold in the state. This will generate an additional revenue of about Rs 100 crore. With this policy decision from the government, competition has increased in each unit and a transparent process has been adopted.

The highest jump in the auction money was 66 per cent in Kinnaur district 59 per cent in Baddi-Brotiwala-Nalagarh and 52 per cent in Una

district. Other districts had an increase between 24 per cent to 46 per cent.

Meanwhile the government informed the state assembly that the number of youths registered in all the employment exchanges in December 2022 stood at 8.21 lakh compared to 8.73 lakh in December 2021.