PANAJI
Booze available freely and cheap is one of several reasons why tourists flock to Goa. Now, just weeks into the new tourism season, the State government has made it cheaper by reducing duties on various categories of alcohol in a move seen as out of turn.
The notification tweaking the excise duty rates as well as annual licence fees of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers was issued on Friday by Under Secretary (Finance) Pranab Bhat.
Interestingly for the cheaper brands of alcohol (Indian Made Foreign Liquor), especially those brands whose retail price does not exceed Rs 150 per 750 ml bottle, the rates of duty have been hiked to Rs 40 per bulk litre.
These cheap brands see high levels of mass consumption and the government has apparently sensed an opportunity to net additional revenue by increasing the duty on these brands.
The notification issued by Bhat also modifies the taxation and licence fee structure for manufacturers of IMFL in various categories.
Another area where the government has stepped in to modify the taxation and excise duty regime is for beer manufacturers (breweries) including the pub breweries and micro-breweries which also sell on their own premises.
These pubs and micro-breweries are required to pay the monthly excise duty dependent on their capacities in advance calculated on 90 per cent of their installed capacity.
There is also a change in the duty rates as well as licence fees levied on Goa’s feni makers, including coconut feni which is manufactured from toddy.
As for licence fees for manufacturers of IMFL other than beer or wines, those categorised as micro or small and medium enterprise will have to shell out Rs 2 lakh per annum in licence fees. For larger manufacturers, the licence fee is pegged at Rs 4 lakh.
For brewery units, those manufacturing up to two lakh cases per annum will entail a licence fee of Rs 4 lakh, while manufacturers bottling up to 4 lakh cases are liable to Rs 8 lakh licence fee.
The licence fee is Rs 12 lakh for breweries churning out between 4 and 10 lakh cases a year and Rs 15 lakh for manufacturers bottling up to 30 lakh cases a year. Those bottling more than 30 lakh cases have to pay up Rs 20 lakh in licence fee annually.
Meanwhile, the fees levied on transportation and transfer of rectified neutral spirit for industrial purposes from the manufacturing unit to some other factory have also been tweaked in the notification.
