Booze lovers will have to shell out more money to buy their favourite brand of liquor. In the recently released excise policy, the UT Chandigarh administration has hiked the price of both countrymade and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) by up to 15%.
Highlights in the new excise policy released for 2018-19 on Tuesday:
- Prices of both country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) will rise by up to 15%.
- The rates of beer and wine remain unchanged.
- Despite the hike, the prices are still lesser than that in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana.
- The new policy will come into force from April 1.
- Under the new policy, the number of vends has gone up from 77 to 93.
- In terms of ease of doing business, the security amount at the time of allotment has been relaxed from 40% to 25%. It will be mandatory for all retail licencees to issue an invoice on sale of liquor.
- now departmental stores registered under the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017, will be able to sell imported and Indian wine besides imported beer after obtaining a new license with a fee of Rs 2 lakh.
- The policy states that it wants to promote low alcoholic content beverages.
Dept targets 25% higher revenue
In 2018-19, the UT excise and taxation department has set a target to earn Rs 450-crore revenue as compared to Rs 354 crore collected last year.
| Brand | Old Price | New Price |
| Antiquity Blue | Rs 700 | Rs 800 |
| McDowell’s | Rs 300 | Rs 345 |
| Royal Stag | Rs 350 | Rs 400 |
| Blenders Pride | Rs 580 | Rs 660 |
Chandigarh gulped 42,000 bottles daily last year
On an average, city residents guzzled down 42,000 bottles of liquor daily between the period of April 1, 2017 to March 20, 2018. This number is 50% more than as in previous year.
In all, 1.52 crore bottles were consumed, of which 1.31 crore were of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and the remaining 21 lakh were of country-made liquor.
Source: Hindustan Times
Image Credits: Google Images