Registration for liquor shops for next fiscal begins in UP

Lucknow, Feb 20 : Under the new excise policy enforced in the state, Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday started registration for allotting government run liquor shops which included country made, foreign liquor, beer and model shops for the next fiscal.

Under the new policy all the registration would be done online and the distribution would be made through e-lottery.There would be no offline registration.

State Principal Secretary (Excise) Kalpana Awasthi said here on Tuesday that in the first phase, the registration would end on February 28 and e-lottery would be held on March 5.
In the second phase the registration would done between March 7 to 12 and e-lottery would be done on March 14.

She said that anyone interested for the shops can registered at upexciseelottery.govt.in website.
In the new excise policy, the state has made it mandatory for vendors to accept digital payments, a move aimed at ensuring that customers are not overcharged.

The move is aimed at ensuring that vendors do not sell alcohol over the maximum retail price. The policy, approved by the state cabinet in January, requires vendors across the state to accept payments through credit and debit cards and other e-payment modes.

The new excise policy of UP is also aimed at increasing liquor sales and revenue, both of which plunged after the Supreme Court banned the sale of alcohol along highways.

The regulations are expected to give the state government Rs 20,402.99 crore in revenues in 2018-19, against Rs 15,730 crore in 2017-18, soon after the policy was approved. This is an estimated rise of 29.71 per cent, or Rs 4,672.99 crore, in excise revenue.

An online tendering process and GPS-fitted trucks to check smuggling have also been planned under the new policy. The government has also ended the hologram system and has introduced track and trace system to monitor the sale and purchase of liquors by the retail shops.