Liquor smuggling hits state’s excise revenue

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 18

Excise collections in Punjab – an assured income for the state — have fallen by 10 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year. As against 55.85 per cent of the targeted excise collections for 2017-18, the collections this year are just 44.45 per cent of the total target for the ongoing fiscal.

The dip, in spite of the government aiming a much higher revenue, is mainly attributed to the alleged high incidence of smuggling of liquor into Punjab from the neighbouring states. As against a case of country made liquor retailing at Rs 2,500 in the state, the same is available in Haryana for Rs 960 and in Chandigarh, Rs 1,000. As a result, liquor from these two places is being smuggled into Punjab, hitting the state’s excise collections.

No wonder that the excise collection in Punjab (as per the audited results in fiscal indicators for April- October) was just Rs 2,667.17 crore as against the target of Rs 6,000 crore for this entire fiscal (44.45 percent). Comparatively, the excise collection for the corresponding period last year was Rs 2,876.28 crore. The total excise collection in 2017-18 was Rs 5,150 crore.

Punjab Excise Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh said the dip in collection was due to a change in model for collecting excise duty. “We had started charging excise duty on the basis of liquor consumption, which has slowed down the collection. But this slow growth will be bridged by the end of the fiscal. Also, the licence fee for this year was collected in March and accounted for in the last fiscal,” he said.

Sources in the liquor trade, however, insist that the fall is mainly to do with rampant smuggling of cheaper liquor from outside Punjab. Liquor contractors contacted by The Tribune said that though the government had assured them of taking effective steps to check liquor smuggling, there had been no concrete action. “We have had some meetings with the top excise officers and other government functionaries over fall in revenues. We have recommended that the state government impose harsher punishment for liquor smuggling,” a top liquor contractor confided, while requesting anonymity.