Liquor Prices Hiked In Punjab

The Punjab state government on Wednesday approved the new excise policy for 1998-99. The policy aims at raising excise revenue, checking liquor smuggling and firmly dealing with the licensees indulging in undercutting.

At a news conference yesterday, excise minister Kanwaljit Singh said illicit distillation will be dealt with strictly. He described the new policy as simple and licensee-friendly.

In order to provide funds for educational purposes, additional levy in the shape of educational cess has been imposed at the rate of Rs 1/litre on Punjab medium liquor, Rs 3/litre on IMFL and Rs1 per bottle of beer.

The minimum sales price of PML of 50 degree has been raised from Rs 65 to Rs 75 per bottle. The same has been enhanced to Rs 90 and Rs 105 in case of rum/gin/whisky of 65 degreee.

 

In the case of IMFL, the minimum sales price has been fixed at Rs 120, Rs 140, Rs 180 and Rs 275 for economy, medium, premium and deluxe branda respectively.

The ordinary beer in Punjab will now be available for Rs30 per bottle and the extra strong beer for Rs35 per bottle.

To attract new bidders, the state government has reduced the security from 20 per cent to 15 per cent. The minister said late deposit of security will attract late fee at the rate of 1.5 per cent per month.

The state, Singh said, has reverted to its policy of levying excise duty on IMFL on uniform pattern at the rate of Rs 40 per litre.

The levy of assessed fee which was introduced during 1997-98 has been done away with to keep a check on smuggling of liquor from other states.

The concept of additional quota has also been reintroduced. Addtional quota will be allowed at an additional license fee of Rs.4 per litre in two slabs of 4 per cent each when the incidence exceeds Rs.80 and Rs.95 per bottle.

Provision has also been made for rum and gin of 75 degree proof strength out of Punjab medium liquor quota in addition to whiskey of 75 degree introduced last year.

The provision for the grant of sub-vends has also been deleted in the new excise policy.

Under the new policy, the district collector has been authorised to devise a suitable system for linking issue of permits to the recovery of licence fee.

The basic quota of Punjab medium liquor has been enhanced from 410 lakh per litres to 425 lakh per litres with a marginal increase inthe still head duty on it from Rs.3 to Rs.3.25 litre.

The size of group of vends for auction will be up to Rs.5 crores. But in suitable cases, the excise commissioner has been allowed to allow bigger groups with a view to increase revenue and for ensuring the disposal of all vends.

The minimum acceptable incidence has been fixed at Rs.70 per bottle.

The minimum price of a tin of beer has been fixed at Rs.40 under the new policy.