Liquor prices to be revised in Karnataka, beer and IML rates likely to go up

Karnataka government will revise the tax slabs on liquor in the state to make prices competitive when compared to the neighboring state. CM Siddaramaiah made a statement regarding this during the budget presentation and tax slabs for different categories of liquor is likely to be out soon.

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During his budget presentation, CM Siddaramaiah said, “There is a need to revise the tax slabs for Indian Made Liquor (IML) and beer in the state. This is to rationalize tax slabs and make prices competitive when compared to neighboring state.”

After reviewing, beer and other IML drinks are likely to get costlier in the state. The rates of premium liquor might even come down if the government makes the price competitive to neighboring states.

Karnataka stands top in the country when it comes to liquor prices and tax on maximum retail price (MRP) is also high in Karnataka, compared to the other states. Karnataka levies 83% tax to the actual price of a liquor which makes it costly compared to the other states.

In the first budget in July last year after the Congress government was voted to power in Karnataka, chief minister Siddaramaiah increased duty on all 18 slabs of Indian Made Liquor (IML) by 20% and on beer by 10 %. The revenue target for the excise department’s target was also hiked to ₹ 36,000 crore.

However, for the 2024-25 fiscal budget the target for the Excise department has been set to collect ₹38,000 crores from the sales of liquor.