Hyderabad: The Telangana government is preparing to overhaul its liquor policy, planning a hike in liquor licence fee and speeding up shop allotments ahead of the upcoming local body elections.
According to officials, the application fee for wine shop licences is set to rise from the current ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh. In line with the increased fee, the licence duration is also expected to be extended from two to three years.
The Excise Department intends to complete the entire allotment process by August, well before local elections are expected in September. In 2023, for the 2023–25 licensing cycle, applications were accepted between August 4 and 18, with a lottery held on August 21 to allocate 2,620 shops, including 690 in Hyderabad. The current licences will expire on November 30.
Under the new policy, reservations for Goud, SC, and ST communities are likely to continue. The department aims to open applications in August and conduct allotments via lottery before the model code of conduct kicks in.
Revenue projections from just application fees are pegged at ₹3,500 crore—up from ₹2,460 crore earned in the 2023 round. Officials expect this spike due to increased demand and the raised application cost.
This would mark the first licence fee hike since 2019, when it was raised from ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh. Earlier, it stood at ₹50,000 in 2015 and ₹1 lakh in 2017.
Excise officials are also reviewing whether to raise the total number of shops, currently capped at 2,620, based on the 2011 census. With increased population and recent administrative expansions, many gram panchayats within the Outer Ring Road now fall under GHMC or municipal corporations, and shop expansion is under consideration.
The department may also ease location restrictions by allowing shop owners to relocate within the allotted area, rather than restricting them to the original spot.
