Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Saturday that the state’s excise revenue has seen an unprecedented cumulative growth over the past three years, rising from Rs 6,254 crore to more than Rs 10,200 crore.
He added that for the first time in Punjab’s history, the excise revenue would surpass the five-digit mark, with the target of Rs 10,145 crore for 2024-25 likely to be exceeded.
The Finance Minister lauded the Excise Department’s achievements, saying the success of the tendering process has set the stage for a fourth consecutive year of remarkable growth for the Excise Department.
He said the department has received overwhelming response in its ongoing e-tender process for the allotment of retail liquor licenses for 2025-26.
He added that the department had set a reserve price of Rs 9,017 crore for 207 retail liquor groups.
As of March 20, 179 of these groups, accounting for 87 per cent of the total, have been successfully allotted, fetching a discovered price of Rs 8,681 crore along with an additional Rs 871 crore as premium against reserved price of Rs 7,810 crore.
The Finance Minister expressed confidence in achieving the ambitious target of Rs 11,020 crore for the upcoming fiscal year.
He said the tremendous response to the e-tendering process suggests that the department is likely to surpass this target, potentially reaching nearly Rs 11,800 crore, which would represent a 16 per cent increase over the previous year’s excise revenue.
Minister Cheema also took the opportunity to criticise the previous governments led by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance and the Congress for their failure to boost excise revenue.
He said during the Congress regime from 2002 to 2007, excise revenue declined by 6.9 per cent, falling from Rs 1,462 crore in 2002 to Rs 1,363 crore in 2007.
He highlighted that during the decade-long SAD-BJP rule, the term “mafia” became synonymous with governance, and excise revenue dropped from Rs 4,796 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 4,400 crore in 2016-17 due to an excise policy designed to benefit cronies.
He added the Congress regime from 2017 to 2022 followed a similar trajectory, with excise revenue stagnating for first three years of regime and reached at just Rs 6,200 crore by FY 2021-22.
He also recalled the tragic hooch incident during the Congress tenure, which claimed the lives of 128 economically disadvantaged individuals.
