JAIPUR: The government is pinning high hopes on the new excise policy to generate more revenue from liquor sales which had fallen dramatically in the current financial year.To tide over the losses suffered in the current financial year, the state government has increased the penalty on shop owners who fail to meet the sales target by 10%.On each unsold carton of hard liquor, the owner will have to pay a fine of Rs 20 while for beer it will be Rs 10 per carton. Earlier, this was Rs 10 and Rs 5, respectively. This increase, however, will be effective only for Indian Made foreign Liquor (IMFL) only.According to available figures, the excise department managed to earn only Rs 2,890 crore against the target of Rs 6,700 crore in the first six months of the financial year.Over the months that followed, it saw a major dip in earnings from liquor sales because of demonetisation "Last year was not good in terms of sales. Already it was low and people, both in urban and rural areas, consumed less liquor after the note ban. The department recorded nearly 20% decline in sales," said an official from the excise department."The ongoing agitation against liquors shops, particularly in panchayats, also contributed to it marginally," the official added. Among other steps to earn revenue, the government has increased additional excise duty from 6.75% to 10%.The government has also opted for the lottery system instead of renewing existing licences. For renewing licence, owners will have to shell out 31% to 35% more in 2018-19.The government has fixed the licence fee at Rs 25 lakh for 2017-18, an increase of Rs 4 lakh from the previous year. In 2018-19, the same fee will go up to Rs 27 lakh. However, 20% of the amount will also be charged as application fee for renewing licences. These rates are applicable for Jaipur and Jodhpur.

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