Liquor licence auction gives Vasundhara Raje government Rs 1,100 crore

Tipplers have given the Vasundhara Raje government a lot to cheer about. The recently-concluded lottery for liquor shop licences has added a whopping Rs 1,100 crore to its kitty by way of application fee alone. This is not just double but also enough to clear almost 1/5th of its revenue deficit for the current financial year reported in this year’s Budget.

In 2015, the government had received Rs 650 crore as application fee, which works out to an almost 90 per cent increase from just the sale of application forms. Those willing to get liquor licences had to shell out Rs 21,000 per application. A person could put in multiple applications depending on how deep one’s pockets are, as the application fee was non refundable.

Every year, the government sets a higher revenue target for the excise department and going by the mad rush for getting a licence leaves not one in doubt that the target will be surpassed once again, as has been happening for more than a decade.

CM Raje has estimated a revenue of Rs 7,310 crore from sale of liquor mainly from alcohol and beer for the financial year 2016-17, which is 15 per cent higher than revised estimate for the FY 2015-16. In the ongoing financial, the CM had estimated revenue of Rs 6,300 crore but ended up with Rs 50 crore more. In fact, the excise revenue has been growing at a compounding annual rate of 18 per cent for almost a decade.

However, it’s not only the government but individuals too who have been benefiting from booze sale. Thanks to Ms Raje’s initiative to break monopoly of large liquor contractors. Instead of district-wise bid for the licence, which only people with money and muscle power could apply for, Ms Raje decided licences would be given shop-wise and that too on lottery basis. This allowed individuals willing to forgo Rs 21,000 paid as application fee to try their luck. It allowed the government to collect more revenue as big liquor contractors in the state put in multiple bids in the name of each and every person in their family, relatives and even employees to get as many shops as they could. get for the fear of going out of business, on the other the individuals who won the lottery also went laughing all the way to the bank because these contractors paid them a premium to buy their license. Not surprisingly, there were large numbers of women and NRI applicants who just wanted to make a quick buck.