Deadline for liquor payments: Liquor shop owners must pay duties by March 7; failure may lead to license cancellations and resettlement process

Ranchi: Liquor shop owners across the state have until March 7 to deposit the Excise Transport Duty (ETD) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) for the financial year 2026–27. Officials warned that failure to comply with the deadline will result in the cancellation of their licences.Deputy commissioner in the state department of excise and prohibition, Rakesh Kumar, said that several shop owners already completed the payment process, but some licence holders were yet to submit the required deposits.“Many shop owners already submitted the deposit. For those who did not, Saturday is the last day. If they fail to do so, notices will be issued and the shops will go through the process of resettlement through a lottery system,” he said.There are a total of 1,343 approved liquor shops operating across the state. Shops whose owners fail to submit the required deposits or surrender their licences will be included in the resettlement process. These outlets will then be allotted to new applicants through a lottery-based system.Interested parties seeking to obtain these licences will be required to submit an application along with the prescribed fees. The process includes payment of application fees, service tax, EMD, and other associated charges. While the application fee is non-refundable, the EMD will be returned to applicants who do not secure a shop through the lottery.Officials said that the resettlement process will be carried out district-wise to ensure administrative convenience and transparency in allotment.Kumar further clarified that there is no assurance that existing shop owners will regain their licences if the outlets go into the resettlement pool. “There is no guarantee that the person who owns the shop now will get it again. Therefore, if licence holders want to continue operating their shops, they should ensure that they meet the deadline,” he said.