Under new excise policy, wineries in UP can open one shop in every district
Speaking to The Indian Express, state Excise Minister Nitin Agarwal said, “The idea is to promote local wines made from local produce"
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There are about 30,000 retail liquor shops in the state (Express Archives)Besides introducing an e-lottery system after a gap of seven years and “composite shops” to sell different alcoholic beverages, the new Uttar Pradesh Excise Policy also aims to increase farmers’ income and local entrepreneurship and allowing state-based wineries to open one shop in every district to sell their product made from local fruits.
The policy was cleared by the cabinet last week.
Speaking to The Indian Express, state Excise Minister Nitin Agarwal said, “The idea is to promote local wines made from local produce. In the previous policy, we had introduced opening of wineries and this year the policy proposes one shop in every district.”
Two wineries are already coming up in the state — one in Muzaffarnagar and another in Bareilly, which will use local fruits like guava and mango as raw material to make wine which will be sold in these shops to be opened in every district.
Agarwal said, “After a gap of 7 years, there would be e-lottery for liquor shops in UP. We wanted new players to come. For a long time, there was only renewal of retail shops.”
The move will also help attain the revenue targets, officials said, adding that the allotment of country liquor shops, composite shops, model shops and retail shops of cannabis will be done through e-lottery and the option of renewal of all shops thus allotted will be available for the year 2026-27. A person can be allotted a maximum of two shops in the entire state in the e-lottery process to ensure wider opportunity to new players in the market, they said.
There are about 30,000 retail liquor shops in the state.
“Separate foreign liquor and beer shops will be replaced by composite shops, thus helping increasing retail density without increasing the number of shops. Due to the formation of composite shops in place of beer shops and provision of giving the option of converting them into model shops, the system of permit room introduced for beer shops in the year 2024-25 is abolished,” an official said.
Low-alcohol bars and low-alcohol premium retail vends for serving beer and wine only have been introduced in Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra and Lucknow.
The new policy also allows for bars and premium retail vends to be opened in IT and ITeS establishments above 20,000 square metres in development authorities or industrial areas. Moreover, like bear, now wine can also be sold in cans, as per the new policy.
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