HYDERABAD: Telangana Excise Department has raked in Rs 968 crore just by selling applications for liquor shops. The department received 48,401 applications for 2,216 liquor shops across the State, which is about 21 applications for each shop on an average. By fixing application fee at Rs 2 lakh, the government earned Rs 968 crore as fee by selling non-refundable liquor shop applications.
The deadline to submit applications for liquor shops across the State ended on Wednesday evening. Officials from the State Excise Department announced that the government had received 48,401 applications. The Hyderabad district comprising the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad received 1,499 applications worth Rs 29.98 crore for 173 permitted shops. The old Ranga Reddy division received the highest number of 8,892 applications adding the fee of Rs 177.84 crore. As per the policy, the State government issues liquor licences for shops to sell liquor for two years. The current licence for the shops will be valid for a period of two years i.e from November 1, 2019 to October 31, 2021.
According to the data provided by the State Excise Department, the fee collected this year by sale of applications is double than Rs 400 crore collected as application fee in 2017.
Reports suggest that, according to industry estimates, total liquor sales in Telangana was to the tune of about 2.8 crore cases of liquor and 3.8 crore cartons of beer during last year. In monetary terms, this could be around Rs 18,000 crore. One case of liquor contains 8.64 litres of alcohol and one carton of beer contains 7.8 litres of alcohol.