Excise collections from sales of liquor in Uttar Pradesh have risen by a whopping 48 per cent over the previous year, following modifications in the state’s excise policy by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, reports The Economic Times.

The changes were made in April 2018, mandatorily directing distillers and brewers to set prices similar to neighbouring states.

“The policy intervention led to sharp increase in the excise revenue by 47.84% (from Rs 12,652.87 crore to Rs 18,705.61 crore) during April 2018 to January 2019 compared to the same period in the previous year,” the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in its report.

The report outlines how under previous governments that major private liquor firms in the state were permitted to fix the Ex-Distillery Price (EDP)/Ex-Brewery Price (EBP) as per their own discretion, leading to massive discrepancies in alcohol prices in Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states.

The excess fixation of these rates helped profiteering by private entities involved in the liquor business, even as sales plummeted and the exchequer lost out on a significant chunk of revenue.