State may put codes on liquor bottles to track sales, increase revenue

To increase the revenue earned by the excise department and to bring transparency in liquor sales, the state government is likely to link alcohol manufacturing companies

To increase the revenue earned by the excise department and to bring transparency in liquor sales, the state government is likely to link alcohol manufacturing companies with retail shops through an online system. Under the system, codes on liquor bottles will be used to track their real-time movement, right from the manufacturing company to their sale.

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Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the finance department, on Thursday conducted a meeting to review the financial condition of the state and discussed means of revenue generation. Although excise duty on liquor is a major source of revenue for the state after the sales tax, the government has been facing a major loss owing to unlawful inter-state liquor trade.

Minister of state for home and excise, Shambhuraje Desai, said, “To avoid loss of revenue through illegal movement of liquor, Pawar suggested we link liquor producing companies to retail shops. This will help to track liquor movement at every step.”

State excise commissioner Prajakta Varma said the proposal is at an initial stage. “According to this new system, each and every liquor bottle will be tracked from the producing company to the customer’s end,” said Varma.

Under the online system, each bottle will have a code which can be tracked. This will not just keep under-reporting of the sales — which could mean revenue loss for the government — under check, but also curb illegal inter-state trade. The department will prepare a formal proposal to present it to the minister for his approval, Varma said.

According to the state excise department, currently, there is a system to track the movement of liquor from factory to the store at the excise inspector level, but it has its own limitations and cannot trace the journey in real time