24X7 liquor in Chandigarh five-star hotels

Dushyant Singh Pundir
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 6

Now, the elite can have booze 24×7 in the city. The new Excise Policy allows five star or above category hotels to serve liquor round the clock to promote tourism in the city and proposes increasing the licence fee from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.

Administrator of UT VP Singh Badnore today approved the new Excise Policy for 2020-21 that will come into force from April 1.

In the new policy, the excise levies on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) have been increased by nearly 10 per cent except on high-end brands.

With imposition of cow cess in the new policy, the consumer will have to pay Rs 5 to Rs 10 per bottle extra from April 1.

This cess will be levied at Rs 5 per bottle of 750 ml of country liquor, Rs 5 per bottle of 650 ml of beer and Rs 10 per bottle of 750 ml of whisky and will be deposited by the wholesale licensees in the dedicated bank account of Municipal Corporation.

Under the new policy, the rates are going to increase from 10 per cent to 15 per cent in the city, said a liquor contractor.

The new policy would help the Administration earn revenue of nearly Rs 680 crore in comparison to Rs 617 crore for 2019-20, an increase of nearly 10 per cent.

Complete e-tendering, online permit

According to the new policy, the allotment of licensing units will be made through complete e-tendering system for more transparency. Besides, complete online system for issuance of permit/passes to facilitate trade and industry has also been introduced.

In the new policy, the number of licensing units (CL/IMFL) has been increased from 92 to 95. To curb the menace of cartelisation and monopolistic practices, a single person/entity will be entitled to allotment up to a maximum of 10 vends only.

Boost for low alcoholic content beverages

To promote beverages with low alcoholic contents such as beer, wine and particularly to boost the Indian wine industry, the licence fee has not been increased and kept at Rs 12,000 for the whole year. Further, the label registration fee of wine has been reduced from Rs 10,000 per brand to Rs 7,500 per brand.

Further, the excise duty of microbrewery has not been increased and it will remain at 30 per Bulk Litre (BL) to shift the consumers from hard liquor to soft liquor and the licence fees of microbrewery have also not been increased from the last year. To promote sale of imported wine, Indian wine, ready to drink (RTD) and imported beer, the fee of license in form L-2D to be granted to the shops/establishments registered under the Goods and Service Tax Act remained unchanged and has been kept at Rs 2 lakh.

Basic quota of IMFL not increased

In the new policy, the basic quota of IMFL has not been increased which is 100 lakh PL whereas basic quota of the country liquor of 4 lakh PL has been increased to 8 lakh PL with 10 per cent conversion into IMFL.

Further, the quota of foreign liquor (Bio Brand Whisky) has been reduced from 4 lakh PL to 3.30 lakh PL with 10 per cent conversion into IMFL.

The quota of country liquor has been rationalised keeping in view less demand in city shops and quota of IFL has also been rationalised keeping in view the less demand of IFL in village shops.

Same fee for department stores

To promote sale of liquor through department stores, there is no change in the license fee of department stores which is Rs 20 lakh only and there is no change in quota which is 3,000 PL.

Salient features

• Five star hotels can serve liquor round the clock and can provide mini-bar facility to occupants of rooms.
• All hotels, restaurants serving liquor to have alcometers for voluntary assessment of alcohol level by consumers
• Excise levies on IMFL increased by nearly 10 per cent except for high-end brands
• Cow cess of Rs5 per bottle on country liquor and beer and Rs10 on whisky
• Number of liquor vends increased from 92 to 95
• A single person or entity can be allotted a maximum of 10 vends only.
• The licence fee of beer, wine and Indian wine unchanged.