Proposal for liquor price hike sent to lt governor

Get ready to shell out more for your booze as Delhi government is all set to notify revised prices of liquor with the hike to be in the range of about 10-15 per cent.
The hike proposal drawn up by the Excise department has been sent to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung for approval after having been cleared by the Finance department.
The government wants to generate more revenue through enhanced liquor prices in the wake of a decline in revenue earnings this fiscal, officials said.
Officials said that, if approved by the LG, people will have to pay from between Rs 15 to Rs 30 more on each bottle of liquor, depending on the retail price.

For instance, a 650-ml bottle of beer, which now costs Rs 70, will come at Rs 85. The excise duty on light beer is likely to go up from 110 per cent to 150 per cent while for strong beer it is to jump from 120 to 150 per cent.
The excise duty on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (costing above Rs 130) is likely to increase from the current 170 per cent to 225 per cent.

Further, the excise duty on countrymade liquor is likely to rise to 220 per cent from the present 200 per cent.
After sales tax, it is the Excise department which is the second-highest contributor to the state exchequer.

The Excise department collected revenue to the tune of Rs 3,150 crore in the year 2013-14. The state government has this time set a revenue target of Rs 3,600 crore from excise collections alone.