BENGALURU: The beleaguered liquor industry in Karnataka has once again appealed to the government to help it survive, in the face of an acute economic crisis. Owners of pubs and bars (CL9 licence) have written to the government to adjust the Excise licence fee they had paid for 2020-21 for the two lockdown months -- April to June this year -- against the licence fee they have to pay for 2021-22 before June 30.
Last year, the government had made some concessions and allowed licencees to pay the Excise fee in two instalments -- one before June 30, and the second before December 31. The same relaxation has been extended for this year as well. “This is not enough. We have been hit severely because of the lockdowns in the first and second Covid waves. Whatever we had earned after the lockdown was lifted last year, has gone in servicing loans, rentals, paying staff salaries and other expenses to keep afloat.
We had requested the government last year also to adjust the licence fee for the lockdown months against renewal fee, but it didn’t agree. This time, we have made the same request because it has been a double blow for us, and we don’t even have a moratorium from banks this year,” said owners of some prominent pubs and bars in the city, who didn’t wish to be named.
Retail liquor stores (CL2) have also requested the government to extend business hours from the present 5pm to 9pm, and allow outlets which serve food and liquor to resume business with 50 per cent seating capacity, said Principal Secretary, Federation of Wine Merchants Association, Karnataka, Govindraj Hegde. “The government had allowed liquor retail stores to open shop from 6am to 10am during the lockdown. The timing has been extended to 5pm now. We have requested the government to allow us to open liquor stores from 10am to 9pm. We have hardly done any business. No one comes to buy liquor early in the morning,” said Hegde.
There are 11,236 Excise licencees in Karnataka. The licence fee is paid annually in advance, before June 1. For pubs and bars (CL9 licencees), the fee ranges from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh, depending on the population of the area, plus Additional Excise Duty of 15 per cent on the licence fee. All included, the fee comes to around Rs 10 lakh.
For retail liquor stores (CL2), the licence fee ranges between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 6 lakh. For microbreweries, it is Rs 2 lakh, along with which they have to pay for 50 per cent of their installed capacity in advance to the government.