Punjab: 75% liquor vends allotted as govt eyes Rs 11K-crore revenue

The state Excise Department on Monday earned Rs 7.8 crore in non-refundable fee against fresh allotment of liquor vends in various districts through a tender system. As per initial data, the department managed to sell 75 per cent of the liquor vends across the state. It eyes to generate Rs 11,020 crore as excise revenue this year.

Liquor traders showed keen interest in the fresh allotment of L-2/L-14A vends for 2025-26 that was conducted via e-tendering, with each group size in the range of Rs 35-Rs 40 crore.

Barring Hoshiarpur where 11 of the total 13 zones went un-auctioned, majority of the districts saw keen competition.

Punjab Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam told The Tribune that the allotment of liquor vends was successfully completed on Monday evening. “We managed to sell 75 per cent of the total vends. The tendering for the remaining vends will be undertaken again. We have already earned Rs 7.80 crore through application fee,” he said.

The tendering process has been introduced from this year. Earlier the Punjab Cabinet approved the Excise Policy for 2025-26, aiming to generate Rs 11,020 crore as excise revenue, an increase of Rs 874.05 crore (8.61 per cent) over the previous financial year’s target.

Against the target of Rs 10,145 crore set for the Excise Policy 2024-25, the state government has already collected Rs 10,300 crore.

“Excise collection is witnessing a steady surge in the state under the current regime. For the first time, the collection has crossed Rs 10,000-crore mark. It is worth mentioning that the excise revenue in the last year of the SAD-BJP regime was Rs 4,405 crore, while in the last year of the Congress regime, it was Rs 6,254 crore,” the Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Cheema had said last month.