The Uttar Pradesh excise policy for 2020-21 came into effect from Monday, 10 days behind schedule, with liquor business starting to a low-key response.
The new liquor prices, announced by the state government on April 6, also came into effect from Monday but vendors said the business was doing badly due to the lockdown.
“Shops have opened but the lockdown is also in force and this means that customers are hardly able to visit us. Curtailed sales’ timings – by three hours – has also impacted trade. The increase in liquor prices too could deter some. The rush for buying liquor was seen on May 4, when liquor shops opened to long queues. Ever since, barring some centres in western UP, the queues have died,” a vendor said.
“New rates have come into effect from Monday. Excise inspectors visited our shop on Sunday night to find out how much old stock we have left and told us that only new stock with latest prices will be sold,” a liquor seller, who had applied for renewal of his shop, said.
“The excise department made it mandatory for new licensees, who took over the liquor business on Monday, to procure licences before starting their business, as against the previous practice of allowing them to function even as licenses were being made,” another liquor seller said.
{{/usCountry}}“The excise department made it mandatory for new licensees, who took over the liquor business on Monday, to procure licences before starting their business, as against the previous practice of allowing them to function even as licenses were being made,” another liquor seller said.
{{/usCountry}}Many liquor sellers said that they plan to approach the government citing relaxation in minimum guarantee quota (MGQ) for country liquor as well as in the liquor licence fee, which has already been deposited for the entire year by nearly all shopkeepers. The government is looking to mop up an additional revenue of Rs 2,350 crore from the increase in liquor prices.
For most of Sunday, excise officials were in their offices finalising fresh liquor sales’ arrangements as those sellers whose liquor licence expired on March 31, but were given seven days time to clear stock, would now hand over the shop to new licensees. “There are several renewal cases and all in all, from Monday, several new liquor sellers will arrive in the business,” an official said.
The state government had set an excise target of Rs 31,600 crore for 2019-20, against which it earned Rs 27,323 crore till March. The lockdown started at the end of March and the six-week closure of liquor shops cost the state exchequer heavily.