AP Gets Set for New Excise Policy From Oct. 1

Vijayawada:As Andhra Pradesh gets ready to unroll the state’s new excise shop policy from October 1, liquor traders have sought a 20 per cent trade margin on issue price, so that their business remains “viable.”

The excise department has called for feedback from the retail traders, who are licensees, for formulation of the new liquor policy. The existing policy that expires on September 30 lasted two years.

The present profit margin for traders is around 13.5 per cent, which is cited as insufficient. The traders running around 3,490 retail shops claim that nearly 40 per cent of them are “incurring losses” while the remaining have not got substantial profits. “We raised bank loans for setting up the shop and have to clear the loan from the profits we get,” they reason.

Sources say a reason for the financial discomfiture of liquor traders is also the huge cuts that politicians and officials make from this business.

The traders seek rationalisation of liquor retail outlets so that these are located evenly, based on the population criteria for the respective regions. Traders in a mandal having only upto four outlets will be benefited more due to sale of larger volume of liquor while traders in mandals having more outlets will have less sale and less profits.

Traders alleged that though 10 per cent of the total number of liquor retail outlets is allotted to the BC ‘Geetha Kulalu’, a majority of such outlets are in the hands of the upper castes in benami names.

This, they say, defeat the very objective of providing welfare to backward communities by helping them get involved in liquor trade. For such liquor retail outlets, the licence fee was fixed at a discount of 50 per cent.

President of the AP wine dealers association, R Subba Rao, said, “We have sought a 20 per cent trade margin on liquor sale, renewal of licence and rationalisation of shops.”

The excise authorities recently called for a meeting of the liquor traders to get their feedback on the existing policy and to effect changes therein.

Liquor trader K. Nageswara Rao said, “Nearly 70 per cent of the liquor traders are incurring loss in their business and they are hopeful of a policy that will help them overcome the revenue loss.”

Some traders are selling liquor adding `10 on MRP to offset the loss

Traders having their own accommodation and not familiar with other types of business intend to continue in the same liquor business irrespective of a loss or profit

Excise authorities claim that the traders are getting a trade margin of 17.5 per cent on purchase of liquor.