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Gurgaon Bars Forced To Raise Foreign Liquor Prices by 300%

The Haryana government plans to increase excise duty on imported alcohol from April 1st. Unpopular among bar and restaurant owners

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From April 1 pub and restaurant goers in Gurgaon will have to spend three times more for imported alcohol as Haryana steeply increased excise duty on imported liquor, The Economic Times reports.

The Haryana government announced the excise policy for 2015-16 last week, which includes a new levy called an ‘assessment fee’ on imported alcoholic beverages. Bar license fees in Gurgaon have also been more than doubled from Rs. 6 Lakh to Rs.12.5 lakh.

Restaurant, pub and cafe owners are unhappy and say the new policy will drive customers away. The current industry size for imported beer in Gurgaon is estimated at around 60,000 cases annually. Industry fears this could nosedive to just about 600 cases due to the new levy, according to ET.

“Now the price of imported beer in Gurgaon would be four times more than Maharashtra, where beer is the most expensive at present,” said Ankur Jain, director at Cerana Beverages, who was quoted by The Economic Times.

According to Industry experts the existing price for a pint of Corona beer, for example, ranges between Rs 130-150, which will go up to Rs 400 in retail outlets and up to Rs 900 in a restaurant, the ET reported.

Criticizing the move by the Haryana government, Congress Legislature party leader in the state Kiran Choudhry, said that with the bar license fee being almost doubled, drinking at bars will cost more and people will stop coming to the bars and prefer to drink out in the open which will create social nuisance.

It will also divert sales and revenue to Delhi and Chandigarh as people will prefer to visit bars there than in Haryana, the Congress leader said in a statement.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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Topics:  Excise Duty 

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