The State government has decided to advance issuance of licences to retail wine shops for the licence period 2023-25.
The District Collectors have been asked to take up draw of lots for identification of shops that should be allotted to Goud community and aspirants from Scheduled Castes and Tribes in line with the reservation announced for these communities for allocation of retail liquor outlets. Once these outlets are demarcated, notification would be issued on Friday.. The government will start receiving the applications for 2,620 retail (A4) shops from the same day and August 18 is the last day for submission of applications.
Draw of lots for selecting licensees would be held on August 21 and payment of the first instalment of retail shop excise tax should be made on August 21 and 22. This would be followed by release of stocks to new (A4) retail outlets from November 30 and the retail outlets which receive the license for two-year period will start functioning from December 1.
The government had recently notified starting of 404 new retail outlets in addition to the existing 2,216, taking the total outlets to 2,620. According to the reservations introduced in allocation of shops, Goud community would be given 393 outlets, Scheduled Castes 262, and Scheduled Tribes 131 - taking the total to 784. The remaining 1,834 outlets would be open for all.
The government had fixed non-refundable application fee at Rs. 2 lakh per application and applicants could bid for multiple shops too. The non-refundable application fee is expected to fetch huge revenue to the government as there will be intense competition for licence in the urban areas, particularly in the jurisdiction of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, and other corporations across the State.
The advancing of licences for A4 shops is seen as the steps for mobilising financial resources to fulfil the commitments ahead of the elections. The government would net significant revenue in the form of licence fee after the allotment of licences to the aspiring applicants.
