Excise revenue up from Rs 6,254 cr to Rs10,200 cr in 3 years: Cheema

Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Saturday announced that the state’s excise revenue has seen an unprecedented cumulative growth over the past three years, rising from Rs 6,254 crore to over Rs 10,200 crore. For the first time in Punjab’s history, the excise revenue would surpass the five-digit mark, with the target of Rs 10,145 crore for 2024-25 likely to be exceeded.

Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Bhawan, he said the Excise Department had received overwhelming response in its ongoing e-tendering process for the allotment of retail liquor licences for the fiscal year 2025-26. He said the department had set a reserve price of Rs 9,017 crore for 207 retail liquor groups. As of March 20, 179 of these groups, accounting for 87 per cent of the total, have been successfully allotted, fetching a discovered price of Rs 8,681 crore along with an additional Rs 871 crore as premium against reserved price of Rs 7,810 crore.

The minister expressed confidence that the target of Rs 11,020 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26 would be achieved. He said the tremendous response to the e-tendering process suggested that the department was likely to surpass that target, potentially reaching approximately Rs 11,800 crore, which would represent 16 per cent increase over the previous year’s excise revenue.

During the Congress regime from 2002 to 2007, the excise revenue had declined by 6.9 per cent, falling from Rs 1,462 crore in 2002 to Rs 1,363 crore in 2007. He further highlighted that during the decade-long SAD-BJP rule, the term “mafia” became synonymous with governance and excise revenue dropped from Rs 4,796 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 4,400 crore in 2016-17 due to an Excise Policy designed to benefit cronies.