Liquor gets costlier in Maharashtra

The state government has officially notified the hike in excise duty on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), set to take effect from June 25. This follows the state cabinet’s earlier approval of the increase earlier this month.

The revised duty applies to IMFL categories such as whisky, rum, vodka, and other spirits. However, beer prices will remain unchanged, according to official sources.

As per the notification, any liquor stock sold after Wednesday will attract the new, higher excise duty. Manufacturers have the option to either absorb the increased duty on their existing stock, and continue selling at the old minimum retail price (MRP), or revise MRPs accordingly.

To comply with the regulation, manufacturers must either stamp new prices on current stock labels or begin printing new MRP labels altogether. They have been given time until August 31 to complete this transition. Post that, any unsold stock with old MRPs will be seized.

This move is expected to increase the retail prices of several popular liquor brands starting this week, depending on how manufacturers choose to handle the updated duty structure.