Wednesday, February 20, 2013

New Excise Policy to yield Rs 3500 cr and Rs 3700 cr in two years



By Haryananewswire
CHANDIGARH, FEB 20
The Haryana Government today approved its Excise Policy for two years that is 2013-14 and 2014-15 aimed at yielding a revenue of more than Rs 3500 crore and over Rs 3700 crore respectively.
          A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the State Cabinet which met under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.
          The new Excise Policy has been formulated keeping in view the interests of the consumers, licensees and industry in the State. The Excise Policy of the year 2012-13 is likely to yield a net revenue of about Rs.3100 crores in the financial year. 
          In the interest of the health of the public it has been decided that with effect from April 1, 2013 only Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) based spiced country liquor of 50 per cent degree proof will be sold in Haryana. The country liquor directly manufactured from rectified spirit will not be allowed to be sold in the State.
          Basic quota of both country liquor as well as Indian Made Foreign Spirit (IMFS) will remain unchanged at 900 lakh proof litres and 500 lakh proof litres respectively. The number of liquor vends also will remain same that is 2265 vends of country liquor and 1235 vends of IMFL. The Excise duty structure will remain unchanged except that the rate of excise duty will be increased from Rs.20 to Rs.28 per bulk litre for the beer containing alcohol contents more than five per cent.
          In order to provide stability to various stake holders it has been decided to allot liquor vends for a period of two years that is for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15. The licensees however, will have to renew their licenses for the year 2014-15 in February,2014. The license fee for the year 2014­-15 will be five per cent more than the license fee of the year 2013-14. Allotments will be made on the basis of highest bids received for the year 2013-14. The licensee is now required to give a security deposit at the rate of 21 per cent of the license fee for the year 2013-14 which will be adjusted in the last two instalments of the year 2014-15. Full amount of license fee pertaining to the year 2013-14 will be recovered from the licensees in 12 equal monthly instalments.
          For avoiding boot legging it has been decided to allow command area to the rural IMFL vends also on the pattern of rural country liquor. The procedure for allotment of vends will remain same as in the year 2012-13 that is the allotment will be made in favour of the highest bidder quoting equal to or more than the reserve price. The allotment committees will be headed by the Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts with DETC (Excise) and DETC (ST) of the district as members. Fifteen per cent of the retail outlet or groups of retail outlets of both country liquor as well as IMFL shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes (10 per cent) and Backward Classes A categories five per cent). The Republic Day, Independence Day and Mahatma Gandhi Birthday will be observed as dry days.
          In order to avoid cartelisation whole sale license for sale of IMFL (Form L-1) and country liquor (Form L-13) can be obtained by any person who is a licensee of six vends of IMFL or nine vends of country liquor in the district.
          In the interest of the industry, in the State export duty on liquor of all kinds from Haryana will be reduced by 50 per cent. Accordingly the export duty on country liquor and IMFS will be Rs.1.50 per proof litre as against Rs.3 at present. In the case of beer the rate of export duty has been reduced from Rs.1.50 to 75 Paise per bulk litre. The ex-distillery price for country liquor has been increased to Rs.241 per case of pet quart bottle as against Rs.211 in the year 2012-13.
          The minimum price for sale of liquor has been increased marginally, for instance, the minimum price for a quart bottle of country liquor will be increased from Rs.90 to Rs.100. The minimum price of Deluxe, Semi-deluxe and Premier brands of IMFS has been increased by Rs.20 per bottle.
          For improving the financial health of the Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies it has been decided to enhance the payments to be made to them from Rs. three per bottle of country liquor of 750ml and Rs.five per bottle of IMFS of 750ml and Rs.2 per bottle of beer of 650ml to Rs.5, Rs.7 and Rs.3 respectively. This would devolve additional about Rs 80 crore to Rs 90 crore to the Local Bodies.
          In the interest of promotion of sports, it has been decided to increase the amount to be provided for promotion of sports activities in the State from 50 Paise per bottle of country liquor, IMFS and beer to Re one per bottle. This will result into additionality of Rs 20 crores for promotion of sports activities.

Salient features of Excise Policy 2013-14 and 2014-15

1. No increase in the number of vends, as the total vends would be 3500 including 2265 Country Liquor Vends and 1235 IMFL Vends. 
2. No increase in the Quota of Liquor, as the quota of Country Liquor would be 900 lakh proof litre and of IMFL 500 lakh proof litre.
3. The licenses shall be granted for a period of two years that is from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2015.
4. The licenses shall be granted to the successful bidders on the basis of highest bid received for the year 2013-14.
5. The allotment will be for the year 2014-15 also with the condition that the license fee for 2014-15 will be 5 per cent more than the license fee of the year 2013-14.
6. In the interest of the health of the public, it has been decided that with effect from April 1, 2013 only Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) based spiced country liquor of 50 per cent degree proof will be sold in Haryana.
7. Vend-wise quota of liquor (both country as well as IMFL) shall remain same for each of the years.
8. The Vends will be clubbed into groups comprising a maximum number of three vends of either Country Liquor or IMFL.
9. Allotment of groups will be done by inviting sealed tenders for each group individually and separately.
10. Ten per cent groups reserved for Scheduled Castes and five per cent groups reserved for BC(A).
11. L-13 license shall be granted to any L-14A licensee who has obtained license in his own name for operating atleast 9 vends of retail outlets of country liquor (L-14A) in the district.
12. L-1 license shall be granted to any L-2 licensee who has obtained license in his own name for operating atleast six vends of retail outlets of IMFL (L-2) in the district.
13. The command area shall be prescribed for all rural country liquor vends or group of vends (L-14A) and all rural IMFL vends or group of vends (L-2). The licensee has the freedom to locate his main vend in any village falling in the command area of that particular vend subject to approval of the DETC(Excise) concerned in case of resistance from local residents.
14. The open quota of country liquor which the licensees can lift from the distilleries as per their choice of brand has been increased from 65 per cent to 75 per cent.
15. Minimum retail sales price of liquor has been marginally increased and rationalized (increase 5 per cent to 10 per cent).
16. The excise duty on beer containing alcoholic contents upto 5 per cent will continue to be Rs. 20 per B.L. But the excise duty on beer containing alcoholic contents more than 5 per cent has been increased by Rs. 8 to make it Rs. 28 per B.L.
17. To protect the local manufacturers of liquor, the rates of export duty on liquor (CL, IMFS and beer etc.) reduced by 50 per cent.
18. Rs. five, Rs seven and Rs three  per bottle of country liquor, IMFL and Beer respectively shall be devolved to the Municipal Committees and Panchyati Raj Institutions to augment their resources.
19. Re. one per bottle on the sale of Country Liquor, IMFS and Beer shall be provided for the promotion of sports activities in the State.
20. Rs. 10 crores have been earmarked for encouraging barley cultivation amongst the farmers of Haryana.
21. When the State Government held this press conference last year, target of Rs. 2600 crores for excise revenue for 2011-2012 was determined. The actual achievement was Rs. 2840.30 crores.
22. For current year, the Government has fixed the target of Rs. 3000 crores and we have achieved the target to the tune of Rs. 2578.18 crores upto January, 2013. In whole of the year it is likely to touch Rs. 3100 crores.

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