The Excise department has started accepting applications for setting up liquor outlets for the license period 2021-23 from Tuesday.
The development follows the elaborate exercise to finalise the number of liquor outlets which had been increased from 2,216 to 2,620 across the State. The district collectors on Monday earmarked the shops for SCs, STs and Goud community in line with the reservation to these sections announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Accordingly, 756 outlets had been selected for these sections leaving allotment of 1,864 outlets through open competition. Applications for the shops would be received till November 18 except on Sunday. Draw of lots for selecting the licensee would be held on November 20 and the first installment of retail shop excise tax (RSET) should be paid between November 20 and 22.
The government, in its recent notification, fixed the RSET per year for different areas based on the population. The tax per year in areas with more than 20 lakh population has been fixed at ₹ 1.1 crore and ₹ 85 lakh a year for areas with population between five lakh and 20 lakh. The RSET for areas with population above one lakh and up to five lakh is ₹ 65 lakh and it will be ₹ 60 lakh a year in areas with population between 50,000 and one lakh.
Tax for setting up shops in areas with population of more than 5,000 and up to 50,000 will be ₹ 55 lakh and it has been fixed at ₹ 50 lakh a year for areas with population up to 5,000. The RSET for liquor shops within 5 km periphery from the borders of the GHMC should be same as that of shops within the GHMC limits and the same would be applicable for liquor outlets within 5 km periphery from the borders of the respective municipal corporations other than GHMC.
After the collection of first instalment of RSET, stocks to new liquor outlets (A4 shops) would be released on November 29 and the new shops would start functioning from December 1. The license period of the new shops would be from December 1 this year to November 30, 2023.
Officials meanwhile are upbeat over the changes that have been made in the policy asserting that these changes are set to result in a big and positive impact without the government having to suffer any losses. The first of the changes was doing away with insistence on two bank guarantees and making it one to reduce pressure on the prospective owners. The bidders are given one month’s time to furnish these guarantees unlike in the past when they were asked to submit it the same day.
The number of RSET instalments has been increased from four to six and the return on the sales had also been ensured even after crossing a threshold limit. “The profit on sales used to drop from 20 % initially to as low as 6.4 % as they register more sales. But this has been changed to benefit the owners,” a senior official told The Hindu.
These changes, officials said, are sure to make better sense out of the business and there will be more competition for the licenses now.
