UP generates record Rs 137 cr revenue from sanitiser production

Turning a crisis into an opportunity, Uttar Pradesh registered a record production of sanitiser during the Covid-induced lockdown and after and generated record revenue in the process, officials said.

According to statistics released by the excise department, the distilleries and small units of UP not only produced a record 177 lakh litre of sanitiser from March 24 to November 15 but has also generated a record revenue of Rs 137 crore.

“While this includes GST revenue of Rs 12,848 lakh, the licence fee added Rs 794.28 lakh. In addition, the revenue from the denaturation fees was Rs 21.18 lakh,” additional chief secretary, excise, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy said. “While more than 78.38 lakh litre of sanitiser was sold outside UP, 87.01 lakh litre was consumed within the state,” he added.

“Production of sanitisers was completed quickly and the product was also promptly made available in the markets”, Bhoosreddy said. Officials said from just producing very little to exporting sanitiser to other states, UP quickly revisited its entire policy pertaining to sanitiser manufacture and sale.

Soon after the lockdown started, the state’s food safety and drug administration department had relaxed norms for manufacture and availability of sanitiser, allowing general stores to sell them too.

Earlier only medical centres with drug licences were authorised to sell sanitiser. Not just that, the excise department officials also ensured that the pricing of sanitiser was kept in check.

“We decided that it should not have been more than Rs 100 per 200 ml pack. All credit to chief minister Yogi Adityanath for monitoring the situation and availability of sanitiser. He also asked us to ensure that the common man wasn’t fleeced,” Bhoosreddy said adding that the excise department had urged people to ask for receipts while buying sanitiser so that cases of overpricing could be verified and the guilty punished.