Excise duty cut makes liquor cheaper in UP

State targetting Rs 19,250 crore in excise revenue

The lowering of excise duty in Uttar Pradesh for the current financial year has brought about significant drop in the prices of liquor in the state.

During 2016-17, the state government has set the excise revenue target of Rs 19,250 crore, which is 10% higher than the target of Rs 17,500 crore for 2015-16.

To curb smuggling of liquor and bootlegging from other states into UP, the government had decided for downward revision in excise duties in the new excise policy for the current fiscal, which came into effect from today.

The government is confident of achieving the higher excise revenue target despite the rate reduction.

Following the lower excise duty, there has been a drop of almost 25% in the prices of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brands in the state. Besides, the prices of country liquor have also come down due to the reduction in applicable duties.

In recent years, UP had been witnessing massive loss in its excise revenue to the tune of about 20% due to liquor smuggling from neighbouring states, especially Haryana. In fact, the state government had even proposed to work closely with the Haryana government to curb the menance.

The liquor smuggling had been rampant in western region of UP due to the price differential. The retail price of liquor in UP had been amongst the highest in India due to high license fee, excise duty etc.

The government had decided to reduce excise rates to not only curb liquor smuggling, but bring a parity in rates vis-?-vis the neigbouring states.