19-05-2025
Hike in licence fee: Bengaluru wine merchants not to lift stock for two days from Tuesday
A draft proposal to increase the excise licence fee by the Karnataka government has riled wine merchants in Bengaluru. While liquor retailers in Bengaluru have decided not to lift stocks in protest for two days starting from Tuesday, retailers at the State level could also decide to join them to protest a steep hike by the weekend.
The draft notification was issued on May 15 and will come into effect on July 1 when the licences will start coming in for renewal. The increase in the licence renewal fee has come after nine years, and is part of a larger increased mop-up in excise revenue.
According to K.T. Lokesh of Bangalore Wine Merchants' Association, the licence fee had been very steep, which could lead to losses as business had also come down. 'Despite petitioning the government since the pre-Budget period, the government has decided to hike the price of liquor and licence fee as well.'
Liquor rates too
The hike comes close on the heels of the new upward rationalised rates for Indian Made Liquor and beer, which have become expensive since May 15. The new stocks with revised rates, however, are yet to come into effect, according to the retailers. Liquor rates have seen three revision in two years.
In Bengaluru, the annual CL2 licence fee has gone up from ₹6.9 lakh, including the cess, to ₹13.8 lakh while the fee, including the cess, for CL4 has gone from ₹7.47 lakh to ₹14.95 lakh. Similarly, the fee for CL6A has gone up from ₹11.5 lakh to ₹23 lakh and the fee for CL has gone up from ₹9.77 lakh to ₹19.55 lakh. For CL9, the fee has gone up from ₹8.62 lakh to ₹17.25 lakh. Similarly, licence fee in other zones have been revised. The government has also doubled licence fee for distilleries and warehouses from ₹45 lakh to ₹90 lakh, and for breweries from ₹27 lakh to ₹54 lakh.
'The government earns on an average ₹120 crore a day from the liquor indenting. We want to protest the hike by not buying liquor,' a source said on their two-day protest.
Yet to decide
Meanwhile, Federation of Wine Merchants' Associations of Karnataka general secretary B. Govindaraj Hegde said that meetings were under way to decide on the future course of action. 'A decision could be made by May 22 on the future course of action.'
