Imported liquor (foreign made foreign liquor-FMFL) and wine (both Indian made and foreign made) will become cheaper as the Odisha government has slashed excise duty on them.

It will be available in the market at a competitive price. The objective behind slashing the excise duty is to reduce disparity in MRP (maximum retail price) with neighbouring states — particularly Bengal and Chhattisgarh — and promote high quality FMFL, excise department officials said.

The new excise policy, which has come into effect from April 1, states, “In order to reduce disparity in MRP with neighbouring states and also to promote high quality foreign made foreign liquor and low strength wine, the duty on wine and FMFL has been reduced. However, excise duty for IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) and beer has been kept unchanged.”

While wine has a lower alcohol content, less than 15 per cent, liquor has a high alcohol content, typically over 30 per cent.

As per the officials, excise duty on FMFL has been reduced from 20 to 15 per cent, while it has been brought down to 10 per cent from 15 per cent in the case of low strength wine.

Excise department principal secretary S.K. Lohani told The Telegraph, “There has been an increase in the sale of imported liquor in the state because of the rise in the number of high-end customers. Now the markets have opened up due to decline in Covid cases. Tourists and visitors flow will go up. We have noticed when they come to Odisha, they bring the bottles with them incurring a revenue loss to the state. In order to discourage the trend and make the price a competitive one, we have decided to reduce the excise duties on these products. The revenue from these products will certainly go up.”

Lohani refers to states like Bengal and Chhattisgarh where foreign made liquor was cheaper compared to the Odisha market.

Lohani said, “In 2021-22, the state earned Rs 7,600 crore from excise. Now we have set a target to collect Rs 8,500 crore from the excise sector in 2022-23 . We will achieve it as there will be an increase in the volume of liquor sold for high-end customers because of our new policy.”

The excise department has also made it clear that for the purpose of tourism promotion, serving of liquor in beach shacks is allowed in Odisha. However, the license for location and the number of beach shacks allowed for serving liquor will be based on the approval given by the government in the tourism department. The beach shacks will be allowed to operate throughout the year or for a period as decided by tourism department, depending on climatic conditions,” said the excise department in its notification.

The operations of the beach shacks will be either through OTDC( Odisha Tourism Development Corporation) directly or through Beach Shack operators engaged by OTDC. "The OTDC will select the beach shack operators through an appropriate method,” the excise department officials said.

There has been a nominal increase in license fee, MGQ ( Minimum Guaranteed Quantity), application fees for manufacturers, suppliers as well as retailers in this excise policy.

However, a retail liquor shop owner in Bhubaneswar said “ We have enough stock of FMFL. Once we clear these products, we will be able to provide the FMFL at a cheaper price as per the government notification.”