In order to clear up any confusion or uncertainty that beer retailers may have about their revenue targets, the excise department is planning to amend the policy it released on January 29. The department has submitted a proposal to the Uttar Pradesh government to set a monthly revenue target for beer retailers.
With the new system in place, beer shop retailers will be required to meet 40% of their revenue targets during the peak demand period of April, May, and June. Beginning on April 1 of this year, the excise department implemented monthly revenue targets for beer, country liquor, English wine, and premium liquor vendors for the first time.
Among the 29,523 liquor shops in Uttar Pradesh, 5,544 are specifically involved in the retail sale of beer.
The excise department’s policy stipulated that beer retailers were expected to achieve revenue targets of 7%, 10%, and 8% in April, May, and June, respectively. However, the department later increased the target for April to 14%.
Spokesperson of the UP liquor sellers welfare association Devesh Jaiswal said, “It has been three months from the time policy was introduced and monthly target was provided. Suddenly the target for April was increased by two times for April and for May and June too. To highlight the problems beer retailers issued a memorandum for the UP government on April 29.”
According to SK Mishra, the excise officer for the Lucknow district, beer retailers were provided with clear explanations on multiple occasions.