The Punjab Cabinet on June 7 approved the State’s new excise policy for the year 2022-23, which is expected to generate revenue of ₹9,647.85 crore.
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The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh.
An official statement said that the policy’s aim is to collect ₹9,647.85 crore in 2022-23, and it shall be applicable for a period of nine months, effective July 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.
The new policy strives to keep a stringent check on the smuggling of liquor from neighbouring States through extensive enforcement, including with technology. The Cabinet also gave its nod for allotting two special battalions of police to the Excise Department, in addition to the already existing force, for keeping an effective vigil over excise duty pilferage, the statement added.
The policy stipulates tapping the actual potential of the liquor trade by allotting 177 groups through a free, fair and transparent manner of e- tendering. To encourage capital investment and to increase employment capability in the State, provisions for new distillery licenses and brewery licenses have been made in the policy, it said.