JAIPUR: The excise department has posted healthy earnings in the first five months of financial year 2021-22 on the back of strong sales.
As per the figures, the department has earned a revenue of Rs 4,685 crore between April and August. This is Rs 1,374 crore higher than the previous fiscal year 2020-21 and Rs 1,031 crore higher than 2019-2000. In April, the department earned highest revenue of Rs 1,156 crore.
Excise commissioner Joga Ram said, “Keeping a check on illegal sale of liquor from other states, including Haryana, is one of the major reasons to boost revenue. Providing incentives to the shopkeepers and reducing beer prices were also few factors.”
The highest revenue of Rs 461 crore was recorded in Jaipur city. Surprisingly, Alwar surpassed the revenue of many tourist cities and earned second highest revenue of Rs 296 crore. Jodhpur and Udaipur managed to earn the revenue of Rs 274 crore and Rs 228 crore, respectively.
Similarly, Jaipur division too tops the chart in the state after earning a revenue of Rs 1,293 crore. It was followed by Jodhpur division, where revenue of Rs 912 crore was earned. Ajmer division earned Rs 611 crore and stood third.
After making amendments in the policy (2021- 2022), the excise department organised the e-auction for the first time, instead of allotting shops through lottery.
Under the new policy, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country-made liquor both are being sold in the same shop. In phase-1 on Wednesday, 3,262 bidders participated to bid for 1,669 shops including 81 from Jaipur.
There are a total of 7,665 liquor stores in the state. The state government had expected to earn Rs 13,000 revenue in financial year 2021-2022. The department is hopeful it will surpass the target revenue. “Despite carrying out auction in 10 – phases, the department failed to attract buyers for 70 liquor shops. Soon, auction in 11 phases will begin and revenue will increase once these shops are sold out too,” said an official.
