Be reasonable, traders urge CM
Stating that the high fee would defeat the very purpose of the reforms in new excise policy, wine merchants of the twin cities have cautioned the government against fixing high license fee for the retail outlets in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits. The government decided to scrap the open auction to avoid unhealthy competition and fix a specific license fee and pick the retailer through draw of lots. While the excise department took population as the base for the state, for twin cities the department proposed that the turnover of the previous excise year shall form the base for the license fee.
A delegation of the Twin Cities Wine Merchants Association met Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and submitted a memorandum urging him to fix a rationale license fee. The delegation suggested that the privilege fee proposed on excess lifting of stocks could be fixed at a higher rate. “The average license fee in the GHMC limits in the existing excise policy is Rs 78.5 lakh. The department can increase the average fee by another 10-15 per cent,” Association president D. Venkateshwar Rao said, adding that the department was, however, planning to fix Rs 1.25 crore plus license fee.
The association expla-ined to the CM that higher license fee would again lead to Maximum Retail Price violations. The department proposed that a privilege fee of 5 per cent shall be collected from the retailers who register excess turnovers. According to the department’s calculations, the retailer will have to register a turn over of six times the license fee to recover the investment and earn marginal profits. It was proposed in the new policy that a privilege fee shall be collected on stocks lifted over and above the break even turnover.
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