State's excise collection from liquor to rise 17%

MUMBAI: For the state coffers, it’s boom time at the booze counter. The state excise collection, for the second consecutive year, is well on course to set a new high by March 31, ’07. There is already an appreciation of 16% in the excise receipts till October 31 over the corresponding period in the last fiscal. By October ’05, the collection was Rs 1,441 crore.

This year, it has gone beyond Rs 1,672 crore. “By March 31, the collections are estimated to register a 17.22% growth over the past fiscal receipts. In actual terms, it will mean a rise of around Rs 500 crore over the past fiscal’s aggregate revenue. It’s much more than the natural rise of merely 3%,” state excise commissioner C S Sangitrao said.

In ‘05-’06, the state excise collection hit an all-time high of Rs 2,815.3 crore, of which Rs 250 crore was on account of licence fee. The last fiscal was a momentous year for the state excise because the revenue recorded a growth of 21.12% over the previous year’s collection. This financial year, the overall revenue is expected to be around Rs 3,300 crore, so the impressive growth of 17.2% would still be 4% less than the ‘05-’06 figures.

“It’s not that the state has suddenly started drinking too much. But there is a remarkable rise in drinking percentage. This phenomenal increase in the collections should be attributed to other factors,” Mr Sangitrao said. The excise commission cites four reasons for the scorching rate of increase. First, the excise personnel have been able to put effective curbs on hooch. Second, there has been a remarkable check over the percentage of excise evasion.

Third, illicit import of “non-excised liquor” from border areas like Goa has gone down if not stopped completely. And finally, the excise department has controlled the illicit open sale of liquor from the army canteens, which offers 60% rebate.

The growth in revenue comes from all three sectors — country liquor (4% growth by October ’06), Indian made foreign liquor (9.53%), and beer (17.73%). Excise collection in Maharashtra shows an upward trend from ’02-’03 itself but the last couple of years have set new highs.

In ’02-’03, the revenue from alcoholic beverages recorded a growth of 10.5%, followed by a 15%
rise next fiscal. But the growth graph dipped in ’04-’05 due to excessive emphasis on regulations, evasion, corruption, and lack of political support.