Punjab govt extends excise policy for three months till June 30

Chandigarh, March 31

The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday approved to extend the Excise Policy for three months of the next financial year from April 1 to June 30.

A decision to this effect was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann here at CMO this evening.

According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, the policy has been allowed renewal for a period of three months to those existing licensees who will give 1.75% excess revenue over Minimum Guaranteed Revenue (MGR) of Financial Year 2021-22 for their respective group/zone in order to maintain stability in the liquor trade. However, the number of groups/zones and the number of liquor vends will remain the same.

Pointing out further, the spokesperson said the MGR of groups/zones of the State would be Rs 1,440.96 crore for a period of three months. However, the revenue target of this short term Excise Policy is kept at Rs 1,910 crore for three months’ period.

In order to generate more revenue, the Minimum Guaranteed Quota (MGQ) of PML, IMFL, Beer and IFL of each group/zone has been increased by 10% over the minimum guaranteed quota of corresponding first quarter of last Financial Year of the respective group/zone. Further, to allow retail licensees to lift liquor as per their requirement, the amount of additional fixed license fee has been increased, revealed the spokesperson.

The ratio of Fixed and Open quota of PML shall be 30:70 as was prevalent during Financial Year 2021-22. In order to control the production and movement of liquor, IT based Track and Trace System would be implemented during the Financial Year 2022-23, added the spokesperson.