PANAJI
Despite Supreme Court's order banning sale of alcohol along highways in the country, the excise revenue in the State witnessed a jump of 20 per cent in the last six months.
Excise collections for the six months between April and September 2017 grew by around 20 per cent compared to corresponding period in 2016. The State excise department had collected Rs 156.6 crore from excise in April-September 2017, which is 19.9 per cent more than Rs 130.6 crore collected in April-September 2016.
This growth comes in the backdrop of SC's order, which had banned the sale of alcohol in India within 500 meters from the outer edge of national and State highways.
Excise duty is payable when a manufacturer/importer of an alcoholic drink releases the stock to the distributor, who eventually sells it to liquor shops. The fact that excise collections grew by around 20 per cent means that alcohol sales have grown as well. It's only when liquor shops expect to sell more alcohol that manufacturers will release more stock to distributors.
Dattaprasad Naik, president of Goa Liquor Traders Association, said, "It was expected that SC's order will not result in any decline in alcohol sales in the State. If a customer wants to drink and he realises that the nearest shop is closed, he will go beyond 500 meters to buy alcohol. Moreover, there is a good growth in the number of tourists arriving in Goa in the last six months, which too has contributed to the growth."
For the three months of July to September, the growth in excise collections was particularly high. The State government collected Rs 30.8 crore from excise in September 2017 compared to Rs 22.1 crore in September 2016 (a growth of 39.6%).
Similarly, excise collections grew by 31.8% to reach Rs 25.3 crore in July 2017 from Rs 19.2 crore in July 2016. July, a monsoon month, has been attracting lot of tourists to the State, which has contributed to the growth in excise collections.
Of around 11,000 liquor licenses in Goa, initially, it appeared that 3,200 would face closure due to the SC's order. Naik said, "Of the 3,200 licenses, only 1,100 are shut now."
The SC actually gave relief in its March 2017 clarification, wherein it reduced the distance of 500 meters from the outer edge of highways to 220 meters, in case of areas comprised in local bodies having a population of upto 20,000. This alone led to the renewal of around 1,000 liquor licences.
Later the apex court had also observed that its order wasn't applicable to highways going through city areas. Due to this, licences which were falling within 220 meters / 500 meters distance in city areas were renewed in Goa.
Meanwhile, the State government has also changed the method of measuring distance from highways to "from the nearest approachable road" from the earlier method of "as a crow flies".
More licenses will get renewed when the excise department finally implements the change in method to "from the nearest approachable road." An excise official said, "We are completing a report on this. Soon after that, we will start renewing those licenses, which were earlier not renewed when we were following ‘as a crow flies' method."
April 20.9 20.3 3%
May 27.5 23.6 16.2%
June 28.2 25.3 11.2%
July 25.3 19.2 31.8%
Aug 23.9 20.1 19.3%
Sep 30.8 22.1 39.6%
