U.P.’s excise revenue up 14pc, sets record with over ₹52K cr earnings: Minister
Setting a record, the Uttar Pradesh excise department earned over ₹52,000 crore revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal, said state excise minister Nitin Agarwal here on Thursday. He also said the state government was upgrading itself in terms of use of technology to bring in more transparency and to curb tax evasion and inter-state liquor smuggling.
“The excise department has generated the highest ever revenue of ₹52,297.08 crore in 2024-25 financial year (these are provisional figures). This is ₹ 6,726.61 crore (14.76 percent) more than the revenue of ₹ 45,570.47 crore generated in 2023-24. In 2022-23, the revenue earned by the excise department was ₹41,252.24 crore,” Agarwal said at a press conference at his official residence here.
The minister also said the concept of composite shops has been introduced in the state for the first time. Elaborating further, he said, “In the year 2024-25, there were 6,563 shops of foreign liquor, while there were 5,970 beer shops in the state. In this way, a total of 12,553 shops were operational.
“This has been reduced to 9,362 composite shops in 2025-26. In the first phase, 9,316 shops were allotted through e-lottery, while in the second phase, the remaining 46 shops were allotted through e-lottery,” Agarwal added.
“Despite the reduction in the number of shops, the excise revenue of the state is intact. In the e-lottery, the department earned ₹2,318.77 crore as processing fee,” he said, adding that through the composite shops, the revenue is likely to increase.
He said out of 16,052 retail shops of country made liquor in the state, 15,662 were allotted in the first phase of e-lottery and 386 in the second phase. As per the minister, the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that the state excise department inked with various investors to the tune of around ₹39,708 crore was likely to generate 72,474 jobs. Also, 13 firms were given licences for establishment of distilleries, 5 for setting up breweries and 3 for construction of wineries in the state, he added.
As per Agarwal, in 2024-25, 1,12,279 cases were registered by the excise department and around 30 lakh litres of illegal liquor was seized. Around 24,049 individuals involved in illegal liquor trade were arrested and 5,557 of them were sent to jail. Also, 203 vehicles found involved in the transportation of illegal liquor were impounded, he added. Also, eight special enforcement campaigns were conducted.
Integrated excise supply chain management system (IESCMS) has been implemented with a view to controlling the process of liquor/ alcohol production and supply to make the entire working system of the department online. “Under the said system, almost all the processes of the department have been made online,” the minister said.
He said some of the steps taken to prevent tax evasion are the use of digital locks on tankers used for transportation of spirit and liquor, installation of CCTV cameras in distilleries and other units and their integration with the Integrated Command and Control Centre, transportation of liquor using only GPS-enabled vehicles, use of digital alcohol meter in distilleries, geo-fencing of licensed excise premises.
Other initiatives include use of high-security excise adhesive label, QR code-barcode stickers on bottles and crates and tracking of bottles/crates from the place of production till sale at the retail shops besides establishment of command and control centre for continuous monitoring of the supply of alcohol/liquor from all the distilleries and breweries, Agarwal added.
