If you live in Haryana or Faridabad, your next weekend binge will cost you quite a bit more. Thanks to Haryana’s new excise policy, the cost of foreign liquor as well as Indian Made Foreign Liquor has gone up higher than your appraisal dared to.
Under Excise Policy 2017-18, which was presented by Haryana’s excise and taxation minister Captain Abhimanyu Singh, renewing the alcohol licence fee will now cost Rs 12.5-15 lakh in Gurugram. For Faridabad, the fee is now Rs 12 lakhs which is a hike of Rs 2 lakh from the previous fiscal year. For everywhere else in Haryana, the fee now stands between Rs 7.5-9 lakh.
According to a leading daily, bar owners say this is the second time the licence fee has been hiked in 2-3 years. The move hasn’t caused an uproar amongst pub-owner therefore, who remain unfazed and do not think this will affect their business. Which is probably code for, ‘we’ll make the customer pay double’.
And just in case you thought that’s all the bad news this story contains, please note that VAT has considerably gone up as well. For desi alcohol VAT is now 13%, while Indian Made Foreign Liquor has a VAT of 14%. For beer, they came to a compromise and set the VAT charge at 13.5%.
The move has received Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s approval and was implemented, according to Captain Abhimanyu Singh increase the revenue of the state. Which considering the party-hub which Gurugram is thanks to CyberHub, Sector 29’s multiple pubs and the numerous breweries in the city, the revenue collection is sure to be substantial.
Looking forward to your next weekend party? Do note that drinking now literally comes at a heavy cost.
