The collection of excise revenue has increased more than two-fold in the last five years, as successive governments in the state have implemented a policy aimed at generating larger revenue from liquor, despite demands for total prohibition from anti-liquor campaigners.
The excise revenue which amounted to Rs 5,400 crore in 2020-21, has increased to Rs 11,429 crore in 2024-25 fiscal. The government has set a target of Rs 9,753 crore revenue collection in the 2025-26 fiscal, Excise Minister Prithviraj Harichandan told the State Assembly on Saturday.
The excise revenue is mainly accrued from Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) on and off shops, breweries and distillery units.
The excise department has introduced the e-auctioning of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country liquor shops to bring transparency.
And it has paid dividends in the hike in revenue, said excise officials. As the successive governments are intent on increasing excise revenue collection by giving a nod for the opening up of more IMFL and country liquor shops, the principal sources of excise revenue, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has come out with a disturbing picture of people in both rural and urban areas consuming more alcohol than what it was in preceding years.
The government is maintaining a double standard. While alcoholic addiction is breaking up families and economically crippling them, the government has resolved to spread alcohol addiction for the excise revenue growth much against the avowed concept of the welfare state, said anti-liquor campaigners.