UP eyes ₹63K crore excise haul in FY26

Uttar Pradesh’s (UP’s) revenue from excise has risen to nearly 4x what it was eight and a half years ago under the Yogi Adityanath government — from a little over ₹14,000 crore in 2016-17 to ₹52,573 crore in 2024-25 — and is on track to reach almost ₹63,000 crore by the end of the current financial year (2025-26), Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Excise and Prohibition Nitin Agarwal said on Wednesday.

- BS REPORTER

Delivering the inaugural address at the Business Standard Samriddhi event in Lucknow, Agrawal credited the department's revenue surge to improvements in UP’s law and order. He said the excise department has plugged loopholes, ensured transparency and accountability, and lined up its functioning with the chief minister’s (CM's) target of making UP a $1 trillion economy.

Agarwal said UP is now the country’s leading producer of molasses and ethanol. The state government, he said, has cracked down hard on illicit liquor. “Not one life has been lost in UP — a state of over 240 million — since 2017 because of illicit liquor,” he said, adding that bootlegging from neighbouring states has also been curbed and the liquor industry has grown 13-14 per cent annually due to industry-friendly policies.