A look at revenue targets of the department in the past few years show a gradual increase ranging between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,500 crore every year.
The Karnataka government has revised the revenue state excise target for the financial year 2022-23 from Rs 29,000 crore to Rs 32,000 crore, days before the forthcoming Budget on February 17. The government letter on the revised revenue target was issued around 10 days ago. An increase in liquor consumption by 20 to 30 per cent and a boom in the F&B industry are said to be major reasons behind the “aspirational” and midway increase in excise revenue target by an additional Rs 3,000 crore.
The speculation is that while Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai may not increase Additional Excise Duty (AED) on alcohol in an election year, he may, if at all, further push the revenue target of state excise by another Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore in the Budget announcement next week. “Alcohol consumption has gone through the roof and so has liquor real estate. The number of swanky and expansive new liquor boutiques in the city indicates the health of the industry,” said an informed source.
But critics of a further hike in revenue excise target say the latter has not achieved its original target of Rs 29,000 crore, and it might be difficult to achieve an additional hike of Rs 3,000 crore by March-end. “It’s a target given to them by the government, and they have to achieve it,” the sources added.
According to figures shared by the excise department, revenue collected from April 2022 to January 2023 was Rs 24,724.27 crore, which is 85.26 per cent of the revenue target of Rs 29,000 crore. By comparison, in the last FY 2021-22, state excise had collected Rs 21,549.94 crore, which was 87.67 per cent of that year’s target of Rs 24,580 crore.
Last year, an unprecedented jump of Rs 4,420 crore from Rs 24,580 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 29,000 crore in FY 2022-23 was seen as a bold move in the post-pandemic year.
A look at revenue targets of the department in the past few years shows a gradual increase ranging between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,500 crore every year. The annual financial target for 2020-21 was Rs 22,700 crore, and Rs 24,580 crore for 2021-22. For 2019-2020, it was kept at Rs 20,950 crore and Rs 19,750 crore for FY 2018-19.
