The Karnataka government onWednesday hiked excise duty on liquor by 11 per cent to mop up revenues, two day after allowing its sale, following the easing of COVID-19 induced lockdown.This hike is in addition to the six per cent that was announced in the budget."We have increased the excise duty by 11 per cent. Other than this during the budget also the excise duty was increased,"Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told reporters here.The hike would come into effect in a couple of days as labelling and other procedures would require time, he said."Yes, this 11 per cent is in addition to the six per cent announced in the budget," the Chief Minister added.The government had allowed CL-2 (retail shops) and CL-11C (state-run retail shops such as MSIL) to sell liquor between 9 am and 7 pm only in areas that are outside COVID-19 containment zones from May 4.The second day of liquor sales in the state on Tuesday after easing of lockdown curbs had seen a nearly five-fold jump in earnings, with Rs 197 crore worth spirits being sold.According to top Excise Department officials, 4.21 lakh cases of Indian-made liquor, comprising 36.37 lakh litres, worth Rs 182 crore and 7.02 lakh litres of beer in 0.90 lakh cases worth Rs 15 crore was sold on Tuesday.On Monday, when sales resumed in the state, Rs 45 crore worth liquor was sold.State Excise Minister H Nagesh had recently pegged the losses at Rs 60 crore per day because of closure of liquor shops, due to lockdown for over 40-days.With excise alone accounting for about 18 per cent of Karnataka's own tax revenue, the move is aimed at improving the precarious state of the state's finances that has been further affected due to the lockdown.In the 2020-21 budget, the government had increased Additional Excise Duty on IML (Indian Made Liquor) by six per cent across all 18 slabs and had fixed the excise department's revenue target at Rs 22,700 crore for the financial year 2020 -21.
