A new excise policy for the year 2025-26 was given a green signal by the Punjab Cabinet on Thursday. The policy aims to collect ₹11,020 crore of revenue.
The nod was given in a meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Finance and Excise Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said his department would mobilise ₹10,200 crore by the end of March this year as against the target of ₹10,145 crore for 2024-25.
The target of mobilising revenue to the tune of ₹11,020 crore has been set for the financial year 2025-26.
He said during the previous regimes, the revenue from the excise used to be ₹6,100 crore.
The allotment of liquor vends would be conducted through e-tendering under the new excise policy, Cheema said, adding that the quota for country-made liquor has been increased by three per cent.
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Cheema also informed that to further strengthen enforcement, new excise police stations will be set up and a committee has been formed in this regard.
Under this policy, approval has been given for setting up a new bottling plant, he said.
The cow welfare cess on liquor has also been increased from ₹1 per proof litre to ₹ 1.50 per proof litre (quantity at a specified temperature with certain proportion of alcohol volume) . It will lead to an increase in revenue from ₹16 to 24 crore, he said.
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