13 new distilleries to come up in Uttar Pradesh

In five years, the number of distilleries has increased from 61 to 78 with an investment of about ₹6,500 crore. Due to this, alcohol production capacity increased from 170 to 270 crore bulk litres, says ACS

LUCKNOW Thirteen new distilleries are being set up in UP’s Deoria, Amroha, Rampur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gorakhpur, Sitapur, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur with an investment of ₹20,000 crore, said officials.

The distilleries will come up in UP’s Deoria, Amroha, Rampur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gorakhpur, Sitapur, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur. (Pic for representation)

“These distilleries, whose foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the recent ground-breaking ceremony, will bring additional revenue to the state and help it become the hub of distilleries too,” said Sanjay Bhoosreddy, additional chief secretary (excise).

“In the last five years, the number of distilleries has increased from 61 to 78 with an investment of about ₹6,500 crore. Due to this, alcohol production capacity increased from 170 to 270 crore bulk litres and the production of ethanol also went up from 42 to 115 crore bulk litres,” he said.

Bhoosreddy said production had increased due to end of mafia raj, corruption in the state and implementation of reforms. “Now, our effort is to make the state an exporter of liquor,” he said.

“During financial year 2020-21, UP earned ₹30,061 crore through excise duty and licence fee from liquor shops, followed by Karnataka that received about ₹23,000 crore and Maharashtra, which received about ₹15,000 crore. In excise, revenue of ₹3,414 crore has been earned in May this year, whereas ₹2138.91 crore was received last year,” he added.