AP plans major liquor policy reforms to further push revenues

Vijayawada: Amid efforts to strengthen revenue generation and modernise the excise administration, the state govt is planning to go for major reforms in the liquor policy. The govt is planning for revision of pricing structure and retail framework and grant of incentives for breweries to increase production. The cabinet committee had also directed the officials to study the possibility to grant new outlets in airports.The cabinet sub-committee headed by excise minister Kollu Ravindra on excise reforms has set its focus on restructuring licence fee slabs and redistribution of liquor outlets without increasing the total number of shops. The committee asked the officials to explore the possibility of introducing technology-driven systems in retail operations. MSME minister Kondapalli Srinivas, health minister Satya Kumar, energy minister Gottipati Ravikumar are part of the committee.The ministers reviewed various proposals readied by the senior officials with regard to the new policy initiatives. The ministers studied a proposal for revising beer and liquor prices in view of rising input costs, inflationary pressures, and the impact of global conflicts on raw materials, transportation, and packaging. Principal secretary MK Meena explained the consequences of liquor price increase on state revenues, retailers and also consumers. While price increase is expected to shore up the state revenues, it also helps the manufacturers to absorb the raising material costs due to the west-Asia conflict. Similarly, the price hike might also impact the volume of sales to some extent.Excise commissioner Chamuri Sridhar made detailed presentations on the existing excise retail policy and outlined the future roadmap for reforms in the sector. The discussions also covered retail sales growth, revenue trends and measures to strengthen compliance and administrative efficiency across districts.The sub-committee examined proposals to enhance beer supply capacity in the state through industrial incentives for breweries, export facilitation measures, and short-term interventions during peak demand seasons. Plans to encourage investment in brewery infrastructure and ensure long-term supply stability were also reviewed. Among other reforms discussed were the introduction of digital payment infrastructure in liquor retailing, dynamic printing of maximum retail pricesThe committee had also studied a proposal for introduction of a separate licensing framework for high-purity alcohol and laboratory-grade spirit manufacturing. “The proposed policy measures are intended to improve transparency, boost revenue mobilisation, modernise excise administration and attract investments into allied manufacturing sectors in the state,” said principal secretary MK Meena.