TheHaryanacabinet, in a meeting chaired by CM Manohar Lal Khattar, gave its nod to new excise policy for the financial year 2023-24 with a target to collect Rs 400 crore for Environment and animal welfare Gau Seva. There has also been a nominal increase in rates of excise duty on country liquor and IMFL.

As an environmentally friendly measure, it aims to discontinue the use of liquor PET bottles after February 29, 2024, and has reduced the number of liquor vends, as compared to last year

The government is now aiming to cross a benchmark of Rs 10,000 crore with the successful implementation of the excise policy-2022-23. In the last two years, the recovered 100% of the license fee at which retail vends were allotted.

The limit of maximum number of retail liquor vends in the state has been reduced from 2,600 to 2,500 in 2022-23 and from 2,500 to 2,400 in 2023-24.

In the current policy, the retail liquor vend zone size has also been decreased from four to two in a bid to allow more participants to apply for liquor shop licence through e-tender.

Despite showing signs of easing, the prices in Haryana continue to remain above the comfort levels for both the rural and urban Population as the state endures a significantly high rate of compared to other states in the region and at the national level.

The sustained high level of inflation has put a continued strain on the pocket of the Haryana residents, affecting the overall cost of living. Inflation refers to the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time, lowering the purchasing power of consumers and pushing the cost of living.

Despite the rate falling below theReserve Bank of Indias (RBI) upper Tolerance limit of 6%, the inflation rate of the state remained higher than the all-India level, which stood at 4.70%.

Haryana featured among the states with the high rate of inflation, which was largely pushed by the surge in clothing, fuel and housing prices. Telangana (6.02%) and Uttarakhand (6.04%) are the other states which reeled under significantly higher rates of inflation.

The other states with high rates of inflation include Kerala (5.63%),Tamil Nadu(5.61%),Bihar(5.33), Uttar Pradesh (5.29%) andAndhra Pradesh(5.18%). The price data is collected by the field staff of the NSO by visiting selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all the states and UTs.

The RBI will be among the 13 international regulators taking part in GFINs Greenwashing TechSprint. The central bank has invited Indian firms to participate in the event and has opened the application window for all India-based firms and innovators to apply. The window will close on May 21, 2023. RBI will participate in a virtual TechSprint hosted on the Financial Conduct Authoritys (FCA) Digital Sandbox.