Karnataka in high spirits as excise revenue clocks uptick: A look at the state's liquor revenue in last 10 years

Excise revenue from liquor sales in Karnataka has more than doubled in the last ten years, registering a whopping 130 per cent jump since 2013.

According to the state Budget presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, state excise duty collection was estimated at Rs 29,920.37 crore in 2022-23. The state has also made an ambitious budgetary target of Rs 36,000 crore from liquor sales by March 2024.

Read | Karnataka Budget 2023: Liquor prices to go up by 20%, beer 10%

As per data from the State Excise Department, excise revenue in the Karnataka has seen a steady rise increasing from Rs 7.11 crores in the year 1967-68 to Rs 17,948.51 crores in the year 2017-18.

Since then, the excise revenue from liquor sales has doubled to Rs 29,920.37 crore in 2022-23. Compared to the previous fiscal, there has been an increase of Rs 3,542.69 crores and a growth of 13.43 per cent has been registered. 

Here's a look at Karnataka's revenue from liquor in the last 10 years.

In 2013-14, the state had registered an excise revenue of Rs 12,828.32 crore. The number rose steadily to Rs 16,483.75 crore in 2016-2017. In 2020-2021, the state had collected Rs 23,332.10 crore from liquor sales. 

Riding on a 20 per cent hike in the price of liquor, excise revenue in the current fiscal is likely to further shoot up, thus continuing the trend. 

The Karnataka government has relied on excise to fund its schemes with the Budget hiking the duty on Indian Made Liquor (IML) by 20 per cent, while the duty on beer has been hiked by 10 per cent.