Excise Policy for 2025-26 notified
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 15: Notifying new Excise Policy for the year 2025-26, the Finance Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, has considerably increased various license fees and Excise Duty for more revenue generation without increasing the number of vends in the Union Territory.
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As per the new policy, which will come into force on April 1, 2025, non-refundable Registration Fee for participation in e-auction of retail vend of foreign liquor to the public only, has been increased from Rs 50,000/- to Rs 75,000/- while minimum reserve bid price has been revised and linked with the potential of each liquor vend.
Further, Label Fee for all types of liquor brands has been increased from Rs 50,000/- to Rs. 75,000/- except labels in respect of JK Special Whisky and JK Country Liquor.
An increase of Rs 5 has been affected in Excise Duty on Premium/Medium/ Economy/ Low Cost brands, Wine and Beer/Draught Beer while Excise Duty on JK Special Whiskey has been increased from Rs 250/LPL to Rs 258/LPL.
Similarly, Assessment Duty for type B and C Licenses (retail vends) has been increased from Rs 64 to Rs 65 per bottle of 750 ml of IMFL and Rs 32 to Rs 34 per bottle of 750 ml of JKSW.
Non-refundable Processing Fee for shifting/addition/alteration etc of the Type A, B and C licensed premises has been fixed at the rate of Rs 20,000/- and Rs 25,000/- for Type-F (Bottling Plants) Licenses.
Fee for serving liquor on social occasions has also been revised and fixed at uniform rate of Rs 7000/- per occasion. Earlier, there were two slabs of Rs 5000/- and Rs 10,000/ for such permission.
License Fee of JKEL-1A license has been increased from Rs 3 lakhs to Rs 4 Lakh while License Fee for Type F licenses has been increased from Rs 9.00 lakhs to Rs 10.00 lakhs.
Debonding Fee on spirits where bottling fee is not levied, has been increased from Rs 4/BL to Rs 5/BL while Quota Transfer Fee has been increased from Rs 1 to Rs 2 per 750 ml of bottle of JK Special Whiskey/JK Country Liquor.
Stock Transfer Fee has been increased from Rs 0.50 to Rs 1 per bottle on JKSW/IMFL/BIO/ Beer/ Wine/RTD/JK Country Liquor.
Excise Duty on Premium/Medium whiskey has been increased to Rs. 290/LPL from Rs 285/LPL while for Economy and Lost Cost whiskey, it has been increased to Rs 280/LPL from Rs 275/LPL and Rs 260/LPL from Rs 255/LPL, respectively.
For Wine and Beer/Draught Beer, Excise duty has been increased to Rs 85/BL from Rs 80/BL and Rs 35/BL from Rs 30/BL, respectively.
Keeping in view the social responsibility, no new vends have been proposed in the policy year 2025-26 besides continuing prohibition on sale of liquor to persons below 21 years of age.
The new policy reiterates that if any JKEL-2 licensee sells liquor above the MRP fixed by the Department, such licensee shall be imposed penalty by the concerned Deputy Excise Commissioner, Executive, of Rs 40,000/- for first such offence, Rs 75,000/- for second offence, Rs. 1 Lakh for 3rd offence and on 4th such offence, the license of the retailer shall be liable to be cancelled and his EMD shall be forfeited.
Pertinent to mention that the Excise Department regulates the manufacture and trade of liquor by way of issuance of licenses for the manufacturing/wholesale/retail vends and by imposing different duties, fees and levies. The Department gives effect to its objectives relating to manufacturing of liquor and its trade through an annual Excise Policy; which lays down the scale of various duties, levies, license fees etc.
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