'27 Excise Policy: 40% Hike in Liquor Fee May Affect Diners

The charges of obtaining a licence to serve liquor at a restaurant in Haryana has been hiked by 40% under the state's revised excise policy for 2025-27, a move that's expected to make dining out and nightlife in cities like Gurugram more expensive.

- Leena Dhankhar

GURUGRAM:

The steep rise — coupled with increased procurement and compliance costs — has left restaurateurs and patrons bracing for sharp price hikes on alcohol menus, threatening to dull the city's vibrant after-hours culture.

The impact will be most pronounced in premium hospitality hubs, where liquor prices are set to surge. "The licence fee has jumped from ₹18 lakh to nearly ₹25 lakh for a restaurant like ours. Add procurement hikes and we'll have to raise menu prices by at least 20%," said Narender Singh, who runs a bar in Sector 29. "This will definitely affect our younger crowd, who are very price sensitive."

Regulars said they are afraid of the impact the decision will have on their finances.

"We go out twice a month. If drinks go up by ₹100 to ₹200 per glass, that's a game-changer," said Sneha Chauhan, a corporate executive from DLF Phase 4. Her friend, Ankur Verma, dining at a Sector 29 brewery, added, "A ₹25,000 night could now cost over ₹7,000. People will cut back or look for BYOB options instead."