The Thane excise department collected a whopping Rs 155.83 crore through annual renewals of licenses from 2,852 establishments, mostly retail liquor vendors and a couple of microbreweries for the current fiscal (2024-25). The collections were limited to Rs 136.06 crore from 2,740 establishments last year (2023-2024) despite revenue generation from new permits, late fees, transfers and shifting charges.
As per statistics from the Thane excise department, there are around 2,813 retail liquor vending establishments within its jurisdiction. As of today, the excise department has mopped up a little over Rs 155.83 crore towards renewals from 2,852 establishments.
Notably, 147 establishments, including 90 permit rooms and 52 beer shops have not renewed their licenses this year. The license fees for liquor retailers are based on the population of the city, village or town they operate in. Divided into seven slabs, the annual license fees for a permit room range from Rs 75,400 (population up to 50,000) to Rs 9.01 lakh (for cities having a population of more than 20 lakh).
Hotels with three, four and five-star ratings are mandated to pay Rs 6.76 lakh, Rs 12.27 lakh and Rs 17.27 lakh towards annual license fees for serving liquor. While 11 star hotels have renewed their permits this year, 51 establishments contributed more than Rs 3.76 crore by renewing their licenses for five years in advance. After an average hike of 15% in license fees announced by the state government by rules of the Maharashtra Potable Liquor (Periodicity and Fees for Grant, Renewal or Continuance of License) Rules, 1996, a fresh gazette notification was released reducing license fees by five per cent.
“Despite non-renewals by 147 establishments, our collections have witnessed a surge of around 15% as compared to last year,” said excise superintendent Nilesh Sangade.
