The Jagan Mohan Reddy government has begun the exercise on the new bar licence policy as the existing licence for five years (2017-22) will be completed in June and the government has decided to implement the new license policy from July. There are currently 840 bars across Andhra Pradesh and the number will remain unchanged. 

According to sources, the licence fees will be increased drastically. At present there are three slabs, for a population below 50,000 the fee is Rs 10 lakh, for a population more than 50,000 and below three lakh the fee is Rs 20 lakh and for a population above three lakh, it is Rs 30 lakh per year. 

According to sources, the government has been working to enhance the fee to Rs 20 lakh, Rs 30 lakh, and Rs 50 lakh respectively in the three slabs. However, the licence fee for non-IT coverage is low and the non-refundable registration charge is high. There will be an increase of 10 percent of the fee per annum. 

The Excise department is preparing to issue a new bar licence policy notification in a maximum of 10 days. Soon after the notification is issued, the department will be busy receiving the applications. Till now, there has been a policy of renewing the existing bar licences from time to time. 

Soon after the YSRCP came to power in 2019, it tried to scrap the thenexisting bar licences. However, the government had to step back as the bar owners moved the court claiming they had licences till 2022. Now that the period is going to end, the government is coming up with a new approach to seeking new applications. 

According to Andhra Pradesh State Beverage Corporation Ltd (APSBCL) MD, D Vasu Deva Reddy, it is too early to discuss the new bar licence policy. He said the policy of a 10 percent hike every year is an old practice and the decision to increase the licence fee by more than 10 percent is yet to be decided.