The excise department is planning to fix uniform license fee for retail liquor outlets to avoid unhealthy competition among bidders and introduce Minimum Guarantee Quota clause to protect its revenues. The win-win formula, if approved by the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, will be incorporated in the new excise policy that will come in to force from July this year.
The state government auctioning the outlets for a higher licence fee is one of the major reasons for the sale of liquor above the Maximum Retail Price and formation of liquor syndicates. Sources told this newspaper that the department was proposing that the basic license fee should be same for all outlets in a particular greater corporation, city, town or village. The fee will be calculated on the basis of population and nature of the habitation.
After receiving applications for the outlets, the officials will conduct draw of lots and pick up the prospective licensee. “The state revenue will be affected if uniform fee is adopted as there will be no competition,” a senior official said. To overcome the loss of revenue, the officials proposed that a MGQ should be fixed for each outlet based on the previous sale trends. The retailer shall enter into agreement with the department to lift the minimum volume of stocks fixed for the respective outlet and pay additional license fee for stocks above the MGQ.