BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Government has hiked licence fee by 20 per cent for existing liquor shops and announced licence fee for new units in its Excise Policy for 2016-17.
As Bihar declared prohibition on Tuesday, the new fee structure is likely to help Odisha attract new business and increase the excise revenue in the State. Revenue from excise has been fixed at Rs 2800 crore for 2016-17. The collection for 2015-16 from excise was Rs 2550 crore.
The Excise Policy focuses on feedback from various stakeholders in order to facilitate the ease of doing business in the State. Besides, the licence fee for bottling plants/breweries and distilleries has been restructured by replacing the existing production capacity slab-based approach with a production-based approach.
In order to facilitate new breweries, distilleries and bottling units, a base fee structure has been prescribed to attract new investments inside the State.
As per the policy, the annual licence fee for a new distillery and bottling unit has been fixed at Rs 20 lakh while fee for wine producing units will be Rs 2.5 lakh. Similarly, the licence fee for supply and manufacturing of country spirit has been fixed at Rs 36 lakh. The annual licence fee for microbrewery (maximum 1000 bulk litre per day) will be Rs 7.5 lakh.
The annual licence fee for three-star hotels and above has been fixed at Rs 7 lakh while the annual licence fee for hotels in six major cities - Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur - with lodging will be Rs 7.5 lakh. The licence fee for hotels and restaurants without lodging has been fixed at Rs 9 lakh.
In the new policy, relief has been given to IMFL off-shops and country spirit (CS) shops by lowering the minimum guarantee quota (MGQ) for 2016-17. However, there is no change in MGQ for ‘ON’ shops. However, MGQ would not be applicable for all ‘ON’ shops in hotels with lodging facility.