BENGALURU: Beer lovers in the state will have to spend more for their drink in the near future, as the state excise department is all set to increase the prices. The revised prices will be implemented from April 1. Sources from the department said that they have submitted a proposal to the government, requesting price hike, and the same will be notified and implemented from April 1. As per the proposal, the price of each 650 ml bottle of beer will go up by Rs 10 to Rs 20.
Confirming this, KS Shivanna, deputy director excise department (statistics) said, “It was announced in the budget and a gazette notification has also been issued. We will be issuing official notification about the price hike in the next three-four days.”According to officials, this is following the recent announcement made by the Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in his budget, where he proposed for the hike in excise duty on drought beer and beer produced at micro breweries.
“The existing additional excise duty on beer is 150 per cent and with the new notification, it will be increased to 175 per cent. This would mean that each bottle of 650 ml of beer will be charged Rs 10 to Rs 20 more,” explained Shivanna.
Sales go up 5 times in 10 yrs
Officials from the excise department say that the sale of the beer goes up five times in last 10 years. The annual income to state through excise department is around Rs 2,400 crore and officials said that they have been given the target to reach Rs 2,800 crore in 2019-20 financial year.“People have started stocking beer due to the upcoming elections. The rising heat has also been a factor,” said an official.
Highlights
Cost of beer prepared at micro breweries goes up by Rs 5 toRs 10 per litre
The excise duty on drought beer will be increased by 150 per cent as against the existing 115 per cent
Price of low alcoholic brewery will go up by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per litre
Model code of conduct will not affect the price hike, as it is already in process, even before the election dates were announced