Goa hikes license fee of casinos and excise duty on liquor

Panaji, March 29: Last month we saw Goa tabled a policy which will wipe out the offshore casinos out of river Mandovi and will shift to a proposed entertainment zone near Mopa. Now the date for moving casinos from river Mandovi has been extended for six months that means till September end. Along with this, the licensing fee has been almost doubled up. Also, excise duty on liquor has been increased.

This will pinch a bit for the tourists and will but burden on their pockets. As per the gazette notification, the government has hiked excise duty on all categories of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), which includes beer and wines. The government has also reviewed the tariffs for the liquor trade which includes retail/wholesale license fees, bars, and restaurants etc.

Excise duty for IMFL has been fixed from Rs 25 to Rs 2000 depending on the sale price. The minimum excise duty for IMFL, which does not exceed Rs 100 and whose strength is below 80 UP, has been fixed at Rs 25 while for costlier IMFL whose price goes beyond Rs 10,500 it has been fixed at Rs 2,000.

For beer manufactured locally or imported from outside the State, the excise duty is fixed at Rs 22 per bulk liter and goes up to Rs 40 per bulk liter.

Liquor manufacturers will also have to bear a sharp increase in annual license fees with the new fee for distilleries ranging between Rs two lakh and Rs four lakh. The license fee for brewery units manufacturing beer starts at Rs four lakh and goes up to Rs 20 lakh for a large brewery, manufacturing more than 30 lakh cases a year.

The government has also hiked the casino annual recurring fee with effect from April 1, 2018.

As per the order issued by Under Secretary Home Neetal Amonkar, land casinos with an area up to 100 sq meters will now pay an annual fee of Rs 10 Cr. Similarly, land casinos with an area above 100 sq meters and below 300 sq meters will pay Rs 20 cr, casinos with area between 300 to 500 sq mt area will pay Rs 25 cr, those with area from 500 sq mt to 750 sq mt area has been increased to Rs 32 cr and casinos with area over 750 to 1000 sq mt area will pay annual fee of Rs 36 cr.

The order further states that the offshore casino vessels with the passenger capacity of up to 200 will have to pay Rs 25 cr, that with the capacity of 200-400 passengers will pay Rs 30 cr and those above 400 passenger capacity will pay Rs 40 cr.