Liquor licence fee in advance by A.P.

Andhra Pradesh, Nov 29 : After struggling financially due to demonetisation of old notes, the Govt of Andhra Pradesh decided to insist the liquor merchants to pay their licence fees in advance. By collecting taxes from the liquor merchants, state government is expecting to collect around 500 to 600 crore. The Excise and prohibition department officials are already communicated with the wine shops and bars in the state to take the licensees.A senior official in the finance department said, "Treasury is under severe pressure to manage the cash crunch. After demonetisation, there has been a massive slump in revenues. These are extremely tough times ". Commercial taxes, registration and stamps revenues are dropped to all-time low a sources said.For the last 20 days, VAT and sale revenues from excise department are also reporting poor growth.